Chuck & His Roommate vs the Next Mission
by MyNameIsJeffNImLost
Summary: Sarah officially moved with Chuck, whose Intersect has been suppressed. However when the Beta Intersect comes online, she might have to go on missions again. Does that mean a long distance relationship for Chuck and Sarah? This sequel to the AU story Chuck vs His Former Handler is set in parallel with the first third of season two of the show.
1. Three 50th Dates

_Posted September 20, 2019_

A/N: This sequel to "Chuck vs His Former Handler" continues the story of Chuck with Sarah (his former handler) after she moves in to the Echo Park apartment after Chuck's Intersect has been suppressed.

For those that don't remember it, feel free to re-read that story. Alternatively, here's a few things you might need to know or maybe you forgot. Before the last story, Chuck unknowingly suppressed his Intersect after tangoing on his first official mission. This resulted in his handler, Agent Walker, being recalled. That story starts with, Ellie going into Chuck's room to force her wallowing brother out of bed. She found he wasn't sleeping alone. A certain blonde had sneaked into his room the night before. Because Sarah didn't like downtime, she had come to LA to help Carina with a mission. Afterwards, she found a comfortable place to sleep. She managed to find legitimate ways to return to and stay with Chuck (at least in the eyes of the CIA), but things came to a head when undead Bryce Larkin showed up during Thanksgiving dinner. After Bryce blew Sarah's cover to Ellie and Devon, Sarah officially moved into the apartment. Casey returned to provide protection as the official handler of the one person with an unequaled ability at deciphering subliminal images and a proven ability to hold the entire Intersect in his head. Chuck was considered an important backup, in case agents are unable to retain downloads from the Beta Intersect being developed. In the last chapter of "Chuck vs His Former Handler," Sarah and Chuck witnessed Devon's proposal to Ellie, and while Sarah thinks Chuck is sleeping, she told him where she hopes to stay the rest of her life.

Timeline-wise, this sequel parallels early season 2 of the show. Even though "Chuck vs His Former Handler" includes events starting after the show's "Chuck vs the Wookie" and continues through the rest of season 1, this story does not cover the other 4 seasons. This story loosely parallels the events of 2.01 through 2.08 (the second season premiere through the Jill arc.)

Disclaimer: Nobody else owns anything here, so why would I?

Disclaimer 2: No beta. Why would I sucker/obligate/subject anyone into reading this when they didn't want to? I'd rather people just enjoy reading it. However, if you PM me corrections, I'll fix them.

* * *

_**September 29, 2008**_

_The 50th date (~50th with Chuck and Sarah by themselves. Everyone counts differently. This is close enough.)_

"Cheers."

"Cheers."

Chuck and Sarah clinked their wine glasses together and each took a drink. Sarah wore a black dress and Chuck wore a dark sport coat over a blue button down shirt, which was about as dressed up as he got when not undercover. While Chuck and Sarah had been dating for months, they rarely went out like this to someplace like this, a romantic Italian restaurant with white tablecloths.

He and Sarah knew this day would come. It was time for a the next phase of what Chuck hoped would be their plan. Their initial plan was a clean break-up. That idea didn't work for either one of them. The modified plan was a long distance relationship, with Sarah returning between missions to see Chuck when she could. After the first time they tried that plan, she never left, and it had been months. Two issues had helped keep Sarah local. Missions kept popping up in the LA area, and they discovered that Chuck's Stanford professor had hidden the fact that Chuck's test scores at subliminal image retention far exceeded those of everyone else. The government wanted him protected until they had successfully created another human Intersect, but that was soon to happen. In the meantime, Chuck had converted the desk in his room into a sort of home office with a more secure CIA hook-up than what most field offices had.

In a way, the past few months had been nerve-wracking for Chuck. Sure, he woke up every morning with the feet of the love of his life tangled with his own. He just didn't know how long it would last. He dreaded the day when Sarah would have to go on a mission again.

Bryce's appearance at Thanksgiving changed things. Casey returned and became Chuck's official NSA handler. Sarah moved in officially into the Echo Park apartment, but was officially working a desk job when nothing local came up. Director Graham hadn't sent her on another mission, and Chuck had managed to involve Sarah in a series of incidents that provided a reason for her to continue to be stationed in Southern California. After Chuck was almost extracted to safeguard his proven Intersect retention ability, Sarah showed no signs of going anywhere. Sarah said that Director Graham and the CIA were using the opportunity to keep an agent in LA, but she admitted it wouldn't last forever. Chuck suspected mission planners would eventually get the picture that the "Phantom of Kraków" was not available for crazy and insane missions, so Graham would stop hiding her. Then Sarah might have to leave again.

Everything was going to change after the Intersect downloads were successful. Casey and Sarah would be sent where they were most needed. The Chuck and Sarah's long-distance dating plan would go back into effect. Things had been different since Sarah had officially moved in with Chuck, but his understanding was that she would almost never be home. (That was part of why she could get away with living outside of the DC area. She was always traveling anyway.) While Sarah had repeatedly reassured Chuck she'd come back as often as she could, Chuck wanted to make sure she knew she was _always_ welcome back. Forever. Their engagement would do that.

Sarah broke him out of his musing and asked, "Chuck, are you feeling ok?"

"Fine. Good. Great. I'm great. Why do you ask?"

"You seem a little nervous."

"Me nervous? No, I'm not. I don't feel nervous at all, I don't think. Just… It's just this is a very… It's an incredibly romantic restaurant. I'm just taking it all in."

With Chuck's nervous ramble, Sarah wasn't buying it. "Chuck, you can talk to me. Is this about what happened with Longshore?"

"No. Um, I've realized something. After all the stuff, with Bryce and Fulcrum I realized that, you know, I haven't really been thinking about us. You and me. I've been so wrapped up in all the things I couldn't control, that I forgot to focus on the things that I could. Like tonight. What about tonight? I've been dragging my feet on this. I've been waiting for the right moment to talk about what it's gonna be like for us and our future and—"

Sarah cut him off. "Chuck, don't even worry about it. You've had so much happen to you in the last few months. Besides, I'm not going anywhere. Except for work. In that case, I'll always come back. We don't need figure out anything more right now."

Chuck choked on his drink. How had she cut directly to that? It was like she was a mind reader. On one level, Chuck knew that Sarah lived with him and would come back. They had made it clear to each other that they were happiest together. However, he wanted to make sure she knew that she had a home with him _forever_.

Sarah saw Chuck's reaction and said, "No. I'm not saying anything about that." Yes, the mind reader figured it out again. "I've never really thought about it. I'm just saying my future is with you, and that's more than enough. We had such a mess with the ring for Devon's proposal, and my parents had a nightmare proposal."

"I'm sure it can't have been that bad," Chuck said.

"No, it was bad. My mother's family had a restaurant. It was similar to this, and they loved it, so my dad wanted to propose there. God, he had the champagne and the flowers and the band and the balloons and... I mean, it was chaotic. It was so over-the-top, and in all the confusion, somebody knocked over a candle, and it lit the rug on fire. Luckily, my mother and her family got out with only minor burns."

Chuck gulped his drink. "Minor burns. You don't say? That's an awful story. I mean, that's really, really awful. I'm sure they had a great laugh about it on their wedding day, right?"

"No," Sarah answered. "They took it as a sign, and they postponed the wedding. My dad always said it was the beginning of the end of their relationship."

At that moment, Chuck snapped close the red ring box that he held to his side, below the table.

Sarah asked, "What was that noise?" Chuck realized he should have been quieter.

"Uh, noise? What noise? Oh, my jaw. I have a cracking jaw." Chuck moved his hand up to his cheek to the jaw hinge and moved his mouth slowly open and closed. "Can you hear that? I thought I told you about that. When we're kissing or whatever? If you would just excuse me, I'm just gonna… I'll be right back."

Chuck quickly got up from the table and rushed out the front of the restaurant. Sarah had never talked about her past, and Chuck had never pushed. That fact that Sarah volunteered a bad anecdote about her family history meant that place was not the right place to take Sarah and definitely not a place for a proposal.

Outside, Chuck ran up to a short, bearded man in a top hat and tux. In one hand, the man help a bouquet of balloons, and over the other arm he had a spread of gardenias. He was in front of a horse-drawn carriage.

"Morgan. Morgan. Abort!" Chuck exclaimed.

"Damn it, I knew it. Not enough balloons," Morgan said in frustration.

"You bought the whole store. No. No balloons. The proposal is off. We can't have it in an Italian restaurant."

"Is she on a no-carb thing? How's she do that with Ellie's cooking?"

"No, we can't have it in any restaurant. That's how her parents' proposal went. She never talks about her family, so it was bad. We gotta shut it down. Gotta shut it down, now."

"I can't shut it down."

"Why? What are you talking about?"

"The champagne, the string quartet, the caballeros," Morgan explained, using the word for Spanish gentlemen instead of Spanish horses.

"The caballos?"

"Whatever, man. It's all in motion," Morgan stressed. "We are in too deep here."

Chuck insisted the proposal plan was off, and he left. Back inside, Chuck intercepted a waiter carrying a bottle of champagne. Chuck said, "Excuse me. Hey. Hi. The champagne. Let's cancel that."

The waiter said, "The bottle's already open. Who's gonna drink it?"

"Uh, this lovely couple." Chuck indicated the young couple at the closest table. "Please, my treat."

The young lady at the table said, "We're only seventeen."

The guy with her said, "But if you are offering…"

Chuck left the waiter to deal with that situation and looked up to see a group of violinists entering the main dining area. He waved them off.

Possible disaster averted, Chuck returned to the table, leaned down, and gave Sarah a peck on the lips. Sarah grabbed the collar of Chuck shirt and held him for a kiss that lasted a bit longer. They both smiled at each other as Chuck reclaimed his seat. Sarah's attention went to the side of the restaurant.

"Casey," Sarah said under her breath. She had missed seeing the musicians, but there was no overlooking the big man dressed in black, who was standing to the side of the room.

"Casey? Why would he be here?" Chuck looked down to his watch and saw it had a flashing red light. In his rush to try to call off the proposal, Chuck has missed the signal that meant his handler had tracked him and was on the way. He really shouldn't have left his watch muted a couple months ago when he took Sarah to _WALL-E_ at the theater.

Sarah saw the watch, too, so she stood up, and they both went to Casey and followed him out the side door.

Casey actually hadn't come for his asset. He had come to get Sarah as back-up and figured Chuck and Sarah would be together. Apparently he had picked up a mission because they needed someone in LA, not because of something that Chuck found. Sarah handed Chuck the keys to her Porsche, but Chuck refused to take them.

Sarah said, "You aren't coming with us. It could be dangerous."

"So could driving your car, if it were to be scratched while I had the keys."

"I'm not going to hurt you over a car," Sarah tried to reassure him.

"And you're not going to let anything bad happen to me if I stay with you. My handler won't either, because you know how Casey wouldn't like failing in his job to protect me."

Casey said, "We don't have time for a lover's spat. Let's go."

Sarah said, "Whatever. You can come, but you must follow _all_ instructions, from both of us."

"Yes, ma'am."

Chuck rode in the front of the Crown Vic with Casey. Sarah changed clothes in the back. Chuck couldn't help but look in the rear view mirror. Casey saw what he was doing, shook his head, and grunted. Sarah gave Chuck a little wave in the mirror. Casey said, "Could you two please do things like that when I'm not around? It was bad enough that Ventura Boulevard was backed up because some idiot brought a horse and carriage. I don't need anymore flirting it my car. I'd hate to have to reupholster."

That made no sense to Chuck. They were just looking at each other through the mirror. Sarah said, "We can wait until we're at home in bed."

They reached a partially constructed building that was still a concrete skeleton. Sarah had replaced her black dress with mission apparel. She took a shotgun from Casey's trunk and went with Casey inside the building to retrieve a special chip, called the "Cipher," which intel suggested was inside. It was somehow related to the Beta Intersect under construction, and by coincidence, the bad guys who stole in brought it through Los Angeles.

Before they left, Sarah had one instruction for Chuck: "Stay in the car."

After a few minutes alone in the car, a black van pulled up to the side of the building, several dozen yards away. The driver got out and retrieved a silver metal briefcase from the back. Chuck wasn't noticed, since he was alone in a dark car. He was pretty sure the Cipher was in the case. The team had arrived too early.

The man with the case received a phone call. He set down the case in the back of the van, and went to the door of the building, which was opened by another man who had been sent to meet him. The back of the van was left open.

Casey and Sarah were searching the building for something that wasn't even there. Their goal was about thirty yards away from Chuck, and it wasn't being closely watched at the moment, though it wouldn't stay that way. There wasn't much time. It was their best chance. Chuck got out of the car.

* * *

_**The next night**_  
_The second 50th date_

Chuck and Sarah sat in the middle of a Chinese restaurant enjoying dinner. Unlike the night before, they actually got to the food.

Sarah wore a purple dress, and Chuck thought she couldn't look better, not that he was realistically a good judge. Every time she simply smiled, his insides turned into goo, and he was convinced she looked better than ever before. When Sarah dressed up, it wasn't fair to mere mortals. He still had a hard time believing his roommate and girlfriend wasn't a figment of his imagination. He often convinced himself that his imagination wasn't that good. That night at dinner, she definitely looked better than she did for their interrupted dinner the night before—again, not that he was a good judge.

Chuck decided to forgo a sport coat, just wearing a dark button down long-sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Sarah had out-dressed him, but that wasn't a fair comparison. She looked better than he did when she wore a worn t-shirt and jeans.

After finding out the Beta Intersect was almost ready, time was limited, and he wanted Sarah to know she always had a home with him, no matter what. That meant Chuck decided he'd have to propose at a restaurant, despite the concerns he had the night before. He's keep it simple—no balloons, no music, no champagne, and no carriage ride. He'd just dress as himself, not putting himself out of his comfort zone.

That idea was shot out the window with how Sarah acted all night. She was still furious that Chuck got out of the car. She didn't seem to care that Chuck got the Cipher. He suspected that part of her was thinking about what it would mean when there was a new human Intersect. While it was somewhat satisfying to think that his super-spy girlfriend would rather stay with him than go on a mission, he didn't want to memorialize a night in which he was the target of her anger.

Food-wise, the moo goo gai pan was wonderful. Sarah said so. "Wow, this food is great. How'd you hear about this place anyway?"

"Morgan, as a matter of fact," Chuck answered. "The man has a black belt in dumplings. I trust any recommendation he gives me for food items less than $10."

"This is Morgan recommendation?" Sarah asked with some skepticism. She might be angry about the night before, but there was still a sparkle in her eyes whenever she looked at her boyfriend. Chuck could easily tell she was mad, but he could also still tell that she loved him by just looking in her eyes.

"Wow, no faith in the little bearded man. I think you should know, he's always been supportive of our relationship—first when it was fake, then when the real relationship reduced what he called 'Chuck and Morgan time.' Ellie tried that for years without success. He supports the reduction when you are the reason. And Morgan's never found it remotely unbelievable that a guy like me could be dating—you know."

"What?"

"You know. You."

"What about me?" Sarah quietly asked.

"You're really gonna make me say it, aren't you? Wow. Ok. Fine. Alright. We'll play it your way." Even when Sarah was mad at him, she still flirted and made him feel special. He could do this. Maybe they'd get to a place where it would make sense to pop the question. Chuck started, "A girl like you. Or more appropriately, a woman like you. Considering the fact that you could probably kick the ass of everyone in this joint. And a smart one, at that. Not to mention cool. And extremely beautiful and… And you can stop me anytime with the compliments if they're becoming—"

"No, that was…very sweet," Sarah said.

"'Sweet'? Golly, gee. Thanks for making me feel like I'm 8."

Sarah leaned toward the table and said in a sultry way, "Well, you're not so bad yourself."

Chuck laughed it off. "Please. I'm fantastic."

In all seriousness, Sarah agreed, "Yeah, you are."

They each opened their fortune cookies. After Sarah read hers to herself, Chuck asked, "So does it say where you're going next? Your new mission?"

"Actually, it does," Sarah deadpanned.

"Really?"

"No. Not really. Besides, it doesn't work that way. Wherever my orders say I need to go, I'll return home afterwards, as long as I'm welcome back."

"Of course, I want you back. Ellie and Devon do, too."

The both leaned across the table and kissed. After a moment, they separated as a huge black man walked up to their table. The man was even taller than Chuck. It was the same man who held Chuck upside down over the side of the construction site the night before after Chuck had taken the Cipher. He had somehow found them.

In a deep voice, the man said, "Hello again, Chuck." Several people around the dining room stood and faced them. Apparently, everyone in the restaurant was working with him, so Chuck and Sarah were surrounded.

Sarah looked up from her seat at the table and asked, "And you are?"

"My name is Mr. Colt, and I need you to come with me."

"Now, why would we do that, Mr. Colt?" Chuck nervously asked.

"Because I assume you find me imposing. Don't worry, be honest. I'm going for imposing."

Chuck gulped. "Mission accomplished."

"Well, I'll tell you what. The people that hired me? They give me the heebie-jeebies."

"You know, when you put it in context like that—"

"Let's go. We'll take care of the check," Colt said.

"Um, you know, are you sure? The moo goo gai pan is very expensive here, so we could probably go Dutch. How much do bad guys normally tip?"

Chuck's eyes met Sarah's. He could tell she was about to make a move. He was lucky his girlfriend was a strict believer in the thirty-foot rule and was always armed. With Colt's attention focused on Chuck on his right, Sarah plunged a knife deep into the intimidating man's left thigh. He cried out as his leg buckled and he collapsed to his knees.

Sarah quickly moved. She pushed her chair a few yards back, flinging it into one of the people around them. A flick of her wrist let loose a knife into another person. In her other hand, she held a gun, which she used to shoot two more people towards the back of the restaurant.

She quickly flipped their table to its side, providing Chuck and Sarah a little cover towards the front of the restaurant, where all of the non-disabled people from Colt's team remained. It wasn't much, but was the best they had without making a mad dash to the side of the dining area.

Sarah pulled Chuck down next to her. Colt, in pain, was actually on the same side of the table as them, so the cover didn't shield them from him. He pulled out the knife, but Sarah jammed the last knife from her thigh holster into his forearm. Colt cried out again. As started to pull out the second knife, Sarah swung her gun around and shot him point-blank in the shoulder, causing him to fall back.

Several of Colt's gang took their own positions of cover. No one fired, though. They were still in shock from how quickly Sarah had disabled over half their team, including Colt himself. Chuck and Sarah needed to find better cover for when the enemy came to their senses and attacked.

Chuck's watch started to beep. After the previous interrupted dinner, Chuck had changed the settings to be audible whenever Casey activated the homing device in his watch. Sarah yelled, "Move!" as Casey's Crown Victoria smashed through the front of the restaurant, giving them an escape vehicle.

Chuck's fleeting thought as they got away was he'd have to propose another night.

* * *

_**The next night**_  
_The third 50th date_

This was Chuck's last chance before Sarah left for her next mission to show her how much he loved her by proposing. After he recovered the Cipher the day before it has been transported to DC were it was supposed to be used with the Beta Intersect to upload the Intersect into several agents who had been tested to have the highest subliminal image retention scores. Surprisingly, all of the agents were CIA, leaving the NSA out of it. After they government had new Intersect agents, the need for Chuck as a backup would lessen. Sarah would be recalled to go around the world, saving it.

Sarah was so relieved that Chuck was ok, that feeling overwhelmed any anger she had about him being in the thick of a mission again. After all, it wasn't the first time he fell from a building.

While the last two nights had flopped on the attempted proposal front, the third time had to be the charm. This time, Chuck and Sarah were home alone, with Ellie and Devon working late shifts. Chuck had cooked chicken pepperoni. (That was about the only thing he could cook, not counting his microwave skills.) The table was set for a romantic candlelit dinner for just the two of them.

The meal was perfect. Sarah loved it. In fact, Chuck couldn't recall Sarah making noises like that before, except when they were wearing fewer clothes. Half way through the meal, Sarah's phone rang. Based on the ringer, it wasn't Casey, Ellie, or Devon. Morgan was too intimidated by her to call her directly. The only other people who had that number were with the CIA. She had to take it.

Sarah listened, and the expression on her face fell. When she hung up, Chuck asked, "What's wrong?"

Sarah looked to Chuck, barely holding it together. "Graham's dead."

Chuck immediately took her into his arms and guided them to the sofa were they held each other even stronger. After a couple minutes Sarah pulled back and made a call on her cell phone.

"_Walker,"_ Casey answered. "_I assume this is about the Intersect download, though I'm surprised you know already. I figured we'd hear something tomorrow because the agents would pass out like Chuck did."_

"Get over here." She hung up and went back to hugging Chuck as hard as she could.

Less than a minute later, there was a knock at the door. Sarah didn't let Chuck go from her clutches. When no one answered after a bit, Casey opened the door and came into the living room.

"Ugh," Casey grunted. "I figured you wouldn't want to leave even though the Beta Intersect was loaded into real agents, but could you least not do that with me around?"

Chuck and Sarah didn't move for a moment. Sarah finally let go and looked at Casey. One look at her face told him this wasn't the time for his usual quips. "What happened?"

Sarah nodded for him to take a seat. After he sat she said, "The Intersect was destroyed."

"How?"

"The Cipher was a Trojan horse. When they turned the Intersect on, it exploded. It killed Graham and the CIA's six most promising Intersect candidates that were there to receive an upload."

Casey processed that a few seconds. "That makes no sense. I had the Cipher in my apartment. It wasn't an explosive. My apartment has sensors that would have detected something like that."

Sarah agreed, "It didn't make sense to me either. If they wanted us to have it, they wouldn't have worked so hard to recover it and then thrown Chuck off a building to keep it. It was probably an inside job, again."

"Chuck is still the only person we know who can retain the entire Intersect," Casey said. "There's no Intersect under construction. We're not going anywhere. At least I'm not. It's safe to say no illegal orders are coming down because Chuck is even more important now. Who knows what will happen to you when the new CIA supervisor gets put in charge. You might get sent elsewhere, though that's probably not a good idea as long as they are going to build a third Intersect."

After a moment, Casey asked, "How did you find out so fast? In the NSA, we learn about things like this through channels, even when there's casualties."

"Graham was my boss," Sarah answered.

"Sure, for the Intersect Project, but your normal boss wouldn't have been cleared this quickly for anything tangentially related to the Intersect."

"Graham was my normal boss."

Casey wrinkled his forehead. "The CIA reassigned you when you were stationed out here?"

"No, Graham was my normal boss before I first came to California."

Casey whistled. "I didn't realize Graham was so hands on. Did he assign a lot of agents to himself when he took over CIA special operations half a dozen years ago?"

"I don't know. I've been reporting to him for over ten years. He recruited me out of high school."

"Wow. I'm sorry. I didn't know. That's not normal." Casey said with contrition, realizing he had asked too many questions. Chuck just took Sarah into a strong hug again.

After a minute, Chuck and Sarah released, and Chuck asked, "What now?"

Casey said, "We have to wait and see. Beckman is still in charge. My assumption was we were going to be leaving after tonight's download, but now I don't know. The new CIA Director of Special Operations probably hasn't even been informed of his new job yet. He shouldn't know about the Intersect, yet, and I don't know how hands-on he will be. I don't know what they'll do with Walker. I always thought that I was fortunate that the best partner I've had has been allowed to stay here for as long as she was. Still, she might be recalled because she's wanted elsewhere."

Sarah spoke up, "That won't happen. Before I first came out here looking for the Intersect, I had a mission go sideways because of a bad handler. Graham didn't want me working on assignments when he didn't completely understand the objectives. Now, with two sabotaged Intersects, there will be a lot of internal security concerns about a possible mole and real agendas. I'll be kept doing something like this, were the need for security is paramount."

"Graham isn't around to protect you anymore," Casey pointed out.

"We prepared for this, back when I graduated from college—not this specifically, but if anything should happen to him, like even a heart attack. He left instructions that I am not to be taken off assignment or put on any random missions, without my agreement, for at least a couple months. That's not standard procedure, but he sent me on missions during summer breaks when I was still in college and has been working with me for a long time. He was concerned someone would use me as a disposable resource on a suicide mission. Beckman can't do anything about the assignment of a CIA officer to the project, which is good, especially considering what you told me Casey."

Chuck asked Casey, "What did you tell her?"

"It's nothing, and doesn't matter now, anyway," he answered. "You need to be protected as the only person who has been proven to be able to handle the Intersect, but we don't have an Intersect computer you could download anyway. We just need to be careful that our team doesn't do anything unnecessary until any power struggle and the new team supervision structure is figured out. I'm sure we'll have a meeting with Beckman tomorrow morning, even if we don't know who the new CIA director is going to be."

Casey got up and said he'd show himself out.

Sarah nodded and took Chuck hand, leading him to the bedroom so she could spend the night in his arms.

Chuck supposed it didn't matter that Sarah wasn't going anywhere. He still wanted to marry her. He'd need a new proposal plan that would work with a spy. A tragic night was not the time. At the moment, he didn't need to pressure Sarah about their long-term future. He just needed to hold her close for the short-term future.

* * *

A/N: Bad news for Sarah: The man who in her mind saved her from a life of crime is gone. The good news for Sarah: She's staying with Chuck. Bad news for Chuck: The super-spies are staying his spy protectors. Good news for Chuck: That means Sarah is staying. He can figure out a new proposal mission sometime in the future. Bad news for both of them: They are not engaged. They good news for both of them: Sarah and Chuck are staying together.


	2. Afternoon Court

_Posted September 22, 2019_

Casey's time to shine... or maybe they shouldn't bother.

* * *

_**October 6, 2008**_

Sarah knocked on the door to Casey's apartment, and Agent Roan Montgomery answered it.

"Agent Walker. This is a surprise. I was expecting Agent Casey, back from his cover job. I was going to tutor him about how to seduce Sasha Banacheck, not that I think he has much of a shot. What are you doing here?"

"Neither of us thought that was a good plan either. I wanted to get any insights you have on a different approach."

"Ok. It's good to have a back-up plan for when Agent Casey doesn't succeed in his seduction attempt. Do you know where I can get a good drink? Casey is out of olives."

"Sure, I'm staying just across the courtyard. Follow me."

Sarah led the elder CIA agent around the fountain in the middle of the courtyard. As they reached her apartment, Ellie exited, clearly in a hurry.

"There you are," Ellie quickly said to Sarah. "I wanted to tell you I'm off for a late shift. Chuck will be home really soon, which I'm sure you already knew." She looked at Roan and extended a hand. "Hi, I'm Eleanor Bartowski, one of Sarah's roommates. You must be one of the people that does spy stuff with her, so I shouldn't know your name. Make yourself at home. Try not to destroy the place. Sarah, I was going to remind you that Devon will be home after dinner, but you probably have a mission or something, so don't worry about it. I've got to go. Bye." Ellie rushed through an arch out of the complex.

Inside, Sarah went to the kitchen and pulled out ingredients for a martini. Roan stood to the side with a confused look and asked, "This Eleanor knows you work for the CIA?"

Sarah started shaking the drink ingredients and answered, "Yes. There was an incident at Thanksgiving dinner last year, so my cover was blown and a little of the truth came out."

"I'm surprised that a CIA agent has been stationed in the US since last year in a place where civilians know what you do."

"I'm not 'stationed' here. This is my home. Ellie and her fiancé don't know _everything_. Chuck—" At that moment, Chuck entered the apartment. "Speaking of Chuck…"

* * *

Chuck moved to give Sarah a full greeting, but before he got too close, he picked up on the "stay back" look on his girlfriend's face.

Sarah introduced him. "Chuck Bartowski, this is Agent Roan Montgomery. He's helping us get another Cipher. Somehow a former KGB operative, Sasha Banacheck, got one. Agent Montgomery has a history with her, having helped capture her once before."

Chuck and Roan shook hands.

Roan said to Sarah, "I suppose he's a civilian too. Why is he cleared to know the target?"

Chuck didn't understand why he was getting pulled into this, but Sarah provided a little explanation. Sarah said, "Chuck is why I was sent to LA in the first place. He's my _former_ asset. Casey is still his handler because of Chuck's potential of working with us in the future. Chuck still works with us sometimes. I thought I'd soon be going on missions elsewhere after he recovered the first Cipher _twice_. Circumstances have changed. "

Sarah continued as she add olives to the drink. Chuck liked the indication that Sarah somewhat tolerated the fact that he got out of the car.

Sarah added, "His clearance is higher than yours or mine." Chuck liked the indication that Sarah somewhat appreciated what Chuck did when he got out of the car. He briefly thought that maybe the next time he got involved in one of her missions, he should remind Sarah about the special clearance they gave him when at any time he could flash on all of the government's secrets. However, he suspected it wouldn't go over well when something happened, like being thrown off a roof, again.

Roan appraised Chuck by looking him up and down. "He'll do. At least he'll have a better chance than Agent Frankenstein. Sasha Banacheck would never suspect this man of being an agent."

"I'm not an agent," Chuck said. Chuck was well aware that fact. Sarah often reminded him. She seemed to want Chuck in this conversation at the moment, but he didn't want to get into trouble later.

Roan said, "I can work with that. We should get started. All you need to do is learn the famous, four-pronged Montgomery attack."

"Attack for what?" Chuck asked.

"For getting a woman to do whatever you want."

That didn't sound useful to Chuck. Maybe at one time, but now he had Sarah. Why would he care about other women?

The elder agent continued, "Knowing the proper way to drink a martini could help, too." Montgomery held the martini that Sarah had prepared for him. "First, hold by stem. Nod to mark." He nodded to Sarah. "Slowly tilt back." He finished the drink in a single gulp, like a shot. "A moment to learn, a lifetime to perfect. Let's get to work."

"His liver must look like camouflage," Chuck quietly said as he and Sarah took seats on bar stools that were by the counter between the kitchen and dining area. Roan started making another martini for himself. Chuck didn't want one, but an offer would have been polite considering he was in Chuck's home.

Roan said, "I need to see what I'm dealing with. Assume your partner is the mark. How would you seduce her?"

Chuck wrinkled his brow and looked to Sarah. She gave Chuck the smallest of smiles and moved her eyes towards the heavy drinker, indicating he should play along. This must be some sort of spy power-play. He would follow Sarah's lead, knowing they were on the same side.

Chuck started, "That's an excellent question. I would probably start with the bedroom eyes, maybe." Sarah smiled. "You know, the old Bartowski eyebrow dance." Chuck wiggled his eyebrows up and down. Chuck could tell he had Sarah. In fact, he had her when he walked in the door. They only had eyes for each other for a long time. This seduction lesson was ridiculous. He kept up the charade, though, because that was what Sarah wanted. "Then I'd come in at you like this. You know? And then I'd start firing the guns at you, you know." Chuck motioned with his hands as guns as he leaned in. Sarah quietly giggled and smiled.

Roan sternly said, "Hey, don't encourage him! This isn't happy hour at Chili's. This is Sasha Banacheck."

Sarah tried to look series, and Chuck said, "I don't know, I would probably, you know, I'd be myself, and I'd try and make her laugh a little bit. Find a common cultural interest...music." Sarah had been getting enthused about the playlist he was making for her.

"Be yourself?" Roan scolded. He motioned at Sarah with his hand as if he was presenting her. "You think a woman like this could ever fall for a guy like you?"

"I don't know. Barring any national security emergency, I think I might have a shot." Sarah nodded once in confirmation.

Roan didn't let up. "Be reasonable. This is a gorgeous, sophisticated woman, and you're—"

Sarah interrupted and said, "Passionate and sweet and caring."

Roan didn't agree with any of it. "Really? Tall, dark and caring. What a combo!"

"I didn't mean it like that. He has a lot to offer."

"Fine. Let me see this caged passion. Kiss him."

Chuck wasn't a big fan of PDA. "I don't think that's necessary at this particular juncture right now, Roan. I'm solid as a rock in that department." He stomped his fist on the counter.

"What's wrong? Don't you find Agent Walker attractive?"

"Of course I find her attractive. It's just that I had a burrito earlier, and I'm trying to be respectful." Like that would work. This was possibly the longest he'd been home without Sarah attacking his mouth. It was always something he eagerly reciprocated, of course.

"While I admire your chivalry, if you can't kiss her now, what makes you think you're gonna be able to kiss Sasha Banacheck when the entire mission is on the line?"

That made no sense to Chuck. Why would he be on a mission? Sarah hated when he worked missions. A seduction mission would be even worse. He didn't know what Sarah was playing at. He looked to her, and she said, "Chuck, it's okay."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Chuck leaned sideways and gave Sarah an awkward peck on the cheek.

Exacerbated, Roan said, "Perhaps I've moved too fast. Have you had intercourse before?"

Chuck had had enough. "Okay, you know what? You're crazy. This is crazy. I don't have to take lessons from you." Chuck stood to head back to his room.

"Really? Maybe you're the wrong person. I'll get Agent Casey to kiss her."

Sarah stood and said, "This has gone on long enough." She grabbed Chuck's arm and pulled him toward her. Their lips met in full force. Their uncaged passion was fully apparent. Chuck held Sarah between her cheeks, and Sarah had a tight grasp on Chuck's shirt. After a couple moments, mostly because of the audience, they finally separated.

"What's going on?" the instructor asked.

Sarah explained to the other agent, "Chuck is my _boyfriend_. He's had sex before. Many times. In fact, he did with me just this morning when we woke up after having spent the entire night wrapped in each other's arms." Sarah looked at Chuck who was redder than the insides of the olives. She gave him a quick peck on the lips. "No one is going to be seducing Sasha Banacheck tonight. I know that is your specialty, but it makes no sense for this mission. I don't know why General Beckman wanted you involved in acquiring the Cipher, though I suspect it has something to do with the fact you know each other well, as you revealed when you called her 'Diane.' Casey and I have a different plan. It's less risky because we know what we are doing. Casey is just disappointed he probably won't get to shoot anyone. I'd appreciate any intel you can share about her tendencies because that might help tonight. Casey can tell you if he wants your help in the mission van."

Roan knocked back his second drink, and Chuck went to his room, leaving Roan to brief Sarah.

* * *

_**Two nights later**_

Sarah sat on Chuck's lap in one living room chair while Ellie and Devon snuggled together on the couch. The two couples watched a John Hughes movie (which Sarah had never seen) while enjoying part of the box of Klondike Bars that had been left in the freezer after an ill-conceived Morgan plan.

Sarah had apologized profusely and enthusiastically about the "seduction training." She was trying to make a point that there were better ways to complete a mission that didn't require trying to "induce" the enemy.

Chuck later asked if he was allowed to know what happened. Acquiring the Cipher was Intersect-related, and it went off without a hitch, so Sarah though it was harmless to tell Chuck a little about a completed mission. In fact, it was most likely prudent to keep him generally informed while the Intersect project was in flux, since he was often the focal point of the project.

For the mission, Sarah used a rope to go down the side of the hotel building from the roof. Chuck said it was a Spider-Man move, and her confusion revealed they had three more movies to watch together to catch her up on pop culture. That was for another night because Ellie had banned space and superhero movies from their couples movie nights. Spider-Man was Marvel, not DC, so Chuck figured there was no hurry.

In the mission, Sarah broke in from the balcony, where no guards were stationed. That let her easily tranquilize the former KGB operative while she slept. She had no trouble with the guards, since they were not expecting someone to come at them from inside the room that they were guarding. No seduction or torture was necessary either because Sasha was wearing a circular chip on a necklace. They couldn't use the chip until the rest of the Intersect was rebuilt, but the mission was a success.

The couples' movie was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Devon answered, but he was stunned by who he saw. "Aren't you…" he started to ask but didn't finish. Instead he opened the door wider so Sarah could see who it was. She immediately pulled out her cell phone. She didn't aim the gun she held in her other hand, but it was ready in her lap.

Chuck let out in surprise, "Bryce."

Ellie didn't say a word, got up, and walked to the kitchen.

Bryce put on what he considered a big, charming grin and said, "Hi! Miss me?"

Ellie returned from the kitchen to the front door. Bryce was well trained and very experienced in hand-to-hand combat. However, he was completely caught off-guard and had no time to react when Ellie swung a frying pan and hit his head hard. His unconscious body fell to the ground.

* * *

A/N: Why was a seduction mission ever considered a good idea? They'd want to capture Sasha Banacheck anyway. Would hired muscle be that much of a concern?

I saw three big moments in the original episode. I kept the kiss, although this story's Chuck and Sarah went bigger. There was no "Under New Assistant Management" banner to swing from a rooftop with, though the Cipher/hostage trade was unnecessary because Sarah breaking in from the balcony worked better. Bryce would still be cocky enough to show up, though. Ellie saw more than his back this time, and she got even.


	3. I Hate Bryce Larkin

_Posted September 26, 2019_

A/N: Why would Bryce show his face in LA? It can't be for a smart spy reason. This same guy was cocky enough to think it was a good idea to show up at a Thanksgiving dinner attended by two Federal agents while he was a fugitive. The bosses encouraged his bad behavior by sending him deep undercover.

* * *

_Here's a couple things, in case you forgot (or in case you want to savor it):_

"Miss me?"

CLANG!

* * *

**_Two Days Later_**

Sarah led Casey to Chuck's and her bedroom for an upcoming post-mission video call with General Beckman. Their video conferences with DC were normally from Casey's living room, Chuck's and her bedroom (where she typically connected to Langley from Chuck's computer), or the Buy More home theater room, whichever of the three was most convenient. She had expected Bryce to join them, but Casey said he wasn't coming. The last she knew, Casey had taken Bryce with him when Casey didn't want to leave him alone while going on an errand. Considering how Bryce acted on the last mission, keeping him supervised was probably a good idea. Bryce blew his cover at Von Hayes's party and practically fingered her and Chuck.

When Casey came back from his errand, he was alone. For a fleeting second, Sarah thought Casey wasn't past burying him in the desert, but he didn't have time for that.

Earlier, Chuck had asked Sarah to give him a few minutes in their room, so she had gone out to the living room to read the paper and stay current on world events—at least how the LA Times understood them based on what they were allowed to see. Later, she would read the CIA daily world status report.

She wanted Chuck to quickly finish or pause whatever game he was playing. Even though Chuck had disabled Beckman's ability to initiate a connection to the TV in their bedroom (a necessary privacy change about a year ago), the general didn't like to be kept waiting.

Sarah was surprised when she entered the room for the expected video call. Chuck was already talking through the TV to a thin, older man in his sixties with very thin, grey hair.

"Good to see you again, Agent Walker. Major Casey."

Marcus Burrows on the TV. He was a senior CIA official who had been in the agency for about four decades. Sarah had met him once at a company holiday function, but she had not seen him in years. She quickly deduced that he must have gotten Graham's job and must have read some of the information about the Intersect.

"Burrows," Sarah returned the greeting with a serious nod.

"Just so you know, it's Director Burrows now, and I'm your new boss. However, if you call me director, I'm not sure I'll realize you're talking to me. 'Burrows,' is fine."

"Sir," Casey said. As expected, he addressed senior officials that deserved respect that way, even those not in his chain of command.

"Now that is something I _have_ heard for years from junior CIA officers. It made me feel old. I know I'm old. It made me feel old_er_. It's more understandable coming from a Marine major. Sorry to both of you for the surprise. I was just discussing some of the events of the past year with Mr. Bartowski."

"Chuck, you can call me Chuck."

The man smiled, "I was just discussing things with _Chuck_. Yesterday, after I was given access to Graham's office, I found his mission summaries in his private files. He also made extensive private notes explaining the reasoning behind many of his decisions for the past six years, since he took command of CIA covert operations. I've been up all night reading and haven't slept. Fascinating stuff. I figured CIA oversight of the Intersect project has been missing for too long for what is supposed to be a joint NSA/CIA project. I know that it's only been a few days, but you all didn't wait and have been busy. I decided it best that I join this call."

Sarah and Casey barely had time to process what he said when the video on the screen split, revealing General Beckman on the left half.

Beckman hesitated, then questioned, "Marcus? Does this mean that you are the CIA's new senior official for the Intersect project? I thought you're retiring early next year."

"Hello, Diane. I'm just keeping the seat warm. We both know that after the market crash, there's zero chance the current political party in the White House is staying there. Even though our jobs are not technically political, that typically doesn't matter. When there's a change at the top, more leadership positions change than just the political appointments. People in our types of jobs can stay if they've been there a while, but it's too close to the next administration for that to happen here. This job is effectively an interim position. My pending retirement makes the transition easier. No need to force anyone to step down in a few months."

Beckman agreed, "Good point. Since this is a long-term project, you don't need to get involved. I can manage it until it's time for your successor to take a role."

Director Burrows said, "No. Too much has been going on for the CIA to sit on the sidelines. This is too important. This project is directly related to how my predecessor was killed. The CIA is staying involved. Plus, as I was telling the LA team, I stayed up all night reading the reports. A computer database in someone's head? There's no way I'm staying out of this one. As Mr. Bartowski and I were discussing earlier, it's 'cool.' This is my last chance to be involved with something like this before it's early dinners and shuffleboard."

Chuck and the two agents stayed silent in front of their TV, but Sarah turned and stared at Chuck, wondering what he and her new boss were talking about before she came in. It didn't take much for her boyfriend to start to with, but there wasn't the time for them to talk about it.

Beckman asked, "You've already met the asset?"

"Chuck is not an asset anymore. He hasn't been one for a while. I guess he is for you, but the CIA hasn't seen him that way. We treat people who live with our agents differently than assets who often can't be trusted. Even for the NSA, Chuck Bartowski was never a typical asset. He's been on multiple successful missions and has voluntarily brought us actionable intelligence several times. That doesn't describe any asset I've seen in forty years. After today, I don't expect him to be an asset for the NSA anymore because he'll be paid consultant. He should have an electrical engineering degree from Stanford. I don't know why that was held up. I could have understood waiting to put him with the Spring class of 2008, but now there's no excuse. He already has clearance. His background check rivals the type I was given."

Burrows continued, "Chuck has shown he can convert his home to be more secure than two computer systems that have been destroyed inside government facilities. It would be great to have him helping with firewall security and encryption for remote sites. Of course, we can't reveal his involvement because of secrecy. His head still contains the Intersect, even if he can't access it, and this project has some serious security holes. We don't want to show a stronger connection between him and the Federal government. According to records, Agent Walker has officially been on desk duty. That's just an official designation, though, because we all know she has been going out into the field for months.

"Chuck will no longer be an asset, but he still needs protection. We can use that. Agent Walker has worked with the Secret Service. It'll be straight-forward to have her assigned through them to provide protection to a highly valued, but undisclosed resource working with us. We've done that on occasion before. The Secret Service sometimes classifies who they are protecting, even from their own organization. They really care about secrecy. I assume the NSA will want to stay close, so Major Casey is welcome to continue his current posting, even though he won't have an assert. The NSA has more latitude domestically. You two can figure out what assignment makes sense on your side. While Chuck will be a CIA analyst, we can make Chuck a consultant for the joint project, rather than for the CIA directly. That would allow Major Casey to serve as a liaison for the NSA. Agents Casey and Walker, does that plan sound like one that will work?"

Sarah thought that was what Chuck and Burrows had been talking about. It would have been nice to be in the decision process, but on the surface, it sounded ok with her. She wasn't going to voice her agreement, though. This was a CIA-originated plan, and she didn't want the NSA to object solely to try to maintain some semblance of control.

Beckman held a stern frown. Casey broke his silence and said, "It's like I suggested a week ago—that Bartowski be brought on as an analyst."

The director said, "I'm worried that might bring too much attention to Chuck. Analysts are typically stationed near DC or they are designated as field analysts. That involves more paperwork and could bring too much attention to him. Keeping him in a 'special consultant' role allows us to mask his involvement. We can pay him with the same black budget that we've used to build two Intersect computers. We can hide the money trail by using Agent Walker as a conduit. That's assuming she's on board. Agent Walker?"

Sarah looked at Chuck with a concerned and serious expression. When she looked back to the screen, she said, "In sounds like it could work. I'd like to discuss this further with Chuck before anything is finalized. This is the first I'm hearing of anything like this."

"That's understandable," the director said. "Why haven't you heard of the analyst proposal? Major Casey, why haven't you been sharing your good ideas like that with our agency?"

Beckman jumped in, "It wasn't a definite proposal. It came up during a discussion of what to do after the new Intersect was downloaded into several agents, when the asset wasn't needed anymore."

Sarah said with strong objection, "Why wasn't I in this discussion? What do you mean by Chuck not being needed?"

The director preempted with is own question. "What else was discussed?"

Casey kept his mouth shut, his stance looking close to attention. Beckman said, "Several ideas were mentioned, but we dismissed them. Graham was on the call, so the CIA was included. The ideas aren't relevant because we didn't order them. It was just brainstorming."

"Now, I really want to know," the director said.

"Major, you won't say anything!" Beckman ordered.

Burrows said, "That was all the confirmation I needed. As I said before, Graham kept detailed notes. I scarcely believed some of what he wrote, but now I do. I think he wanted a written record that made it appear he was against it. Agent Walker, under the auspices of National Security, the option of killing Chuck as the former Human Intersect was discussed. Fortunately, it was thrown out as unnecessary."

Sarah's mouth dropped open, and she firmly took Chuck's hand at her side. She asked Casey, "How could you?"

Casey said, "I was against it the instant I heard. That's when I suggested making Chuck an analyst."

Director Burrows said, "Graham's notes say that he understood the idea behind the unwarranted suggestion, but he didn't agree with it. He wrote that killing a US citizen who had not betrayed the country was clearly illegal, and trying to kill Agent Walker's innocent boyfriend was a foolish suicide operation."

Sarah showed a lot of teeth in a predatory "smile." She didn't have to say anything for everyone else to take that as a confirmation.

The CIA director continued, "I don't completely believe Graham's own account about the whole thing. It makes him look completely innocent—too innocent. He probably wanted to inoculate himself against any future blow-back. However, the idea that he even felt the need to start a defense is frightening. It's a good thing that I'm here to provide a voice of reason to try to make sure things don't come that close to going sideways, again. That's the past, and I hope to never hear any more stupid suggestions like that."

Everyone was quiet, too concerned of implicating someone or revealing their feelings about the situation. With no one else talking, Burrows said, "Moving on… While I'm caught up on most missions, this is supposed to be a debriefing of the most recent mission. Before we get to that, I'd like to understand something about the previous one—the one immediately after a Trojan horse killed the person from who used to do what I'm doing now. I understand that the mission was initially proposed as a seduction mission, which is why the person who teaches the class, Agent Roan Montgomery, was brought in. That approach makes no sense to me. Its weak potential doesn't seem to necessitate exposing another agent to the Intersect Project. Was he even needed? Agent Walker?"

Sarah diplomatically said, "He provided valuable insight into how to approach Sasha Banacheck in her hotel room."

"I see. Could you have infiltrated her hotel room anyway, without his help?"

"Yes," Sarah confidently answered.

"That's what I thought. So this was about General Beckman getting another one of her people into the project?"

Beckman didn't like the implication. "That's not what I was doing! Agent Montgomery is the only person who has had success—"

Burrows caught her off. "At this point it doesn't matter. Agent Walker and Major Casey were successful. I'm not here to armchair quarterback past decisions. The team's success speaks for itself. I'd just like to understand those decisions. With multiple leaks, we should do what we can to keep the information contained, even from those we trust. Fulcrum could be piecing together information in unexpected ways. We're infiltrated, and the stakes are higher than usual. If our allies don't understand the risk, they won't know what might help the enemy. Tell me about this last mission."

The people standing in Echo Park remained silent. No one wanted to get more in the middle of a NSA/CIA spitting match. Sarah, still holding Chuck's hand, squeezed it three times. Chuck echoed the sentiment. Casey just stood patiently until Beckman said, "It was your mission, Major Casey."

"We were trying to retrieve an encrypted chip with stolen intel. I devised the plan. Chuck and Sarah went to a party thrown by the person suspected to have the list to see if they could take it."

Beckman interrupted, "I thought Agents Walker and Larkin were going as a cover-couple. Why was a civilian there?"

Casey said, "I didn't trust Larkin. The last time he came to town, as a fugitive he came here to a dinner with five civilians. He broke our cover with two of those civilians, and his actions put Chuck's and my cover employer on Fulcrum's radar. I wasn't confident in any plan that involved him, so I discussed the situation with my partner. We agreed that Larkin couldn't be trusted to remain professional. Also, he was supposed to be deep under-cover, so by showing his face at an event that was supposed to be the place for hand-off of government secrets could be noticed by the wrong people. If Walker was with him, it would put a target on her back, which is even worse considering she lives here with Chuck. Sarah goes out dancing with Chuck frequently. If she went with Chuck, there would be no connection between Walker and Larkin. She was reluctant about taking Chuck into the field, but we agreed it could work. Their cover as a couple would be rock-solid, and Chuck has proven he can dance on a mission at an event with hostiles."

"But I read in your initial brief report that you filed last night that it didn't go as planned. Larkin would have done better," Beckman suggested.

Casey said, "Larkin showed up even though that wasn't the plan."

* * *

_**The night before**_

Sarah moved fluidly around Chuck. In their tango, Chuck didn't have to look at Sarah for them to flawlessly dance in tandem. It was like they were the only two people in the room. Sarah still led, but at least Chuck knew the guy's part to the tango. They had been out dancing many times for fun. He taught her music and pop culture. She taught him how to dance. They loved dancing with each other because they were always touching.

Sarah had a little trouble focusing finding the gap in the surveillance camera coverage. Fortunately, that was the only detail she had to discern from the dance floor. They weren't doing anything like getting close to a target to listen. They only had to make people think they wanted to find a private room away from the other party attendees. That objective was easily covered. They partly _did_ want to find a private room. It would be prudent to find the list quickly, then head home to take advantage of their private bedroom.

Their bubble was pierced with some yelling from their host, Von Hayes.

"Are you on drugs? That was a $1000 bottle of Lafite Rothschild."

The waiter didn't say anything. He was still shocked, looking straight at Chuck and Sarah. It was not-so-suave spy, Bryce Larkin, and he was about to bring too much attention to them.

"Were you dropped as a child from a great height? Security!"

Bryce was used to working solo, so he had taken a job at the party, disrupting the planned mission. To make matters worse, he brought a gun with a silencer, which security found.

Von Hayes and a female, who was likely the enemy agent who had given the encrypted chip to Von Hayes to decrypt, recognized the threat and hurried out of the main ballroom into a side room. Bryce and Sarah made chase, seeing the two targets go in opposite directions. Bryce insisted they follow the Von Hayes and the chip, but Sarah was almost certain the woman had ID'd Chuck, so she was a more immediate concern. Von Hayes was too attached to the lavish lifestyle to go far underground, making him easier to get later.

Sarah went after the enemy agent, but to provide cover for her escape, the woman blew up a nearby car that was parked at the curb right outside. Sarah was fortunate to not be hit by debris. If Bryce hadn't slowed Sarah by arguing with her, she could have caught the enemy agent before the explosion.

Later, they spotted Von Hayes's Lamborghini on satellite footage leaving his home. It was easy to track. Correlating the locations with cell tower pings, Casey used NSA technology to find Von Hayes's cell phone and call him. They arranged to buy the decrypted list at a train station the next day. Casey and Sarah were able to capture Von Hayes and disable an enemy team that also found them. Bryce unexpectedly showed up once again, and he created a standoff that almost caused them to lose the list (and lose the taxpayer money—something Casey was very concerned about.) Casey and Sarah outflanked the mercenaries and still got the job done.

* * *

After the report, Director Burrows said, "Major Casey and Agent Walker, it sounds like you make a good team. I don't know why Larkin was involved or why he kept inserting himself into the situation. It seems like he was reckless in abandoning his deep-cover assignment. It was almost as if he wanted the stolen intel for himself. At least his return gave Major Casey the opportunity to bring him into Federal custody this morning."

"What!? Why is Larkin being held? He's supposed to be infiltrating Fulcrum. Major Casey?" Beckman demanded answers.

Casey said, "After over a year of no improvement, yesterday, the family of Peter Sanders took him off life support. That makes what Larkin did when he destroyed the first Intersect murder"

Beckman didn't agree. "It isn't suddenly 'murder' just because his family made the choice to take him off of life support."

Burrows said, "I don't want to get into legal technicalities. That's for the courts to decide. From what I read, it seems like at least attempted murder of a Federal officer while committing a crime of stealing national secrets, which wasn't sanctioned. Even an accidental death while committing a crime like that is murder. For the unauthorized mission alone, he should be put in prison for a long time. In practice, the Federal government doesn't carry out executions even for capital offenses, but I don't see how we can trust him in the field. I wouldn't trust him in the field going on missions on his own, and I agree with the decision to bring him into custody. The CIA doesn't approve of him working on any more covert operations."

Burrows continued, "I still want to review the situation individually with our two agents and our new consultant later tonight. Going forward, we need to be less cavalier about who we use and how we use them on missions. Overall, though, it sounds like you all have done amazing work despite difficult circumstances. Your country can't know what you have done to thank you, but I do. Well done."

He disconnected the called for everyone.

In front of the blank television screen, Casey said something first. "The general won't be happy, but she'll get over it. Sarah, it's nice knowing that I'll have such a good and stable partner at least until your new boss retires and is replaced by the next administration." Casey looked at Sarah's expression and then said to both of them, "You two have something to talk about, and I don't want to be here for it. I'll show myself out." He left Sarah and Chuck alone in the room.

Sarah stared at Chuck with her hand on her hip. When Chuck did not speak first, she said, "I heard my boyfriend is changing jobs, or I should say has an additional job, because it's best for you to keep the Buy More job as cover. It's bad enough with me living here, but we need to keep your involvement with the government as 'under the radar' as possible. That means you have two jobs and less time for us." Chuck gulped but stayed silent. Sarah continued, "Then again, it's good that I'm living here, because I'm not going anywhere away from you for the foreseeable future." Sarah's mouth slowly grew into a big smile.

Sarah leaned in to kiss her boyfriend, but then stopped and pulled back. "Wait. Two things. First, no more life changing plans like this without talking to me first. It worked out this time, but going forward, our rule is 'No secrets. No lies.' Second, since I'm officially in charge of your safety again, you must actually follow my orders. I'm not your CIA handler because you work for the CIA. Loaning me to the secret service is just so having a CIA field agent stationed in the US is somewhat above-board, but the details of my assignment will be classified enough that no one will know your protection is my assignment. The people who know what I'll be doing were on that call, and they already know and don't care that we sleep in the same bed. Are you ok with my no-secrets rule and any other orders I give for your safety?"

He nodded. Her twisted smile revealed that Chuck had nothing to worry about. She was just busting his chops. They both knew that in the future he'd still get out of the car because he said it was never safe there. Sarah didn't wait for a confirmation that she knew he'd try and fail to fulfill because he cared so much about helping others. She took out his legs so they both fell onto the bed where she pinned him and started attacking him the best way, with her lips.

* * *

A/N: I'm not going to criticize the canon episode, because we got 75 more episodes of a great show after that one. What this episode did was solidified to me that Bryce was an awful spy. That was before I noticed in the first episode during a rewatch that he killed someone while escaping after he destroyed the first Intersect.

There were three common arguments for Bryce being a good guy. 1) He "saved" Chuck from being recruited into the Omaha project. I've seen many fanfics counter that because Bryce took away Chuck choice, treating him like a child. In the show, Chuck proved he could handle becoming an unconventional spy. Framing Chuck for cheating alone would have "saved" him by invalidating his results. Accusing him of selling the tests was vindictive and put the entire CIA recruitment program at risk. 2) In "Chuck vs the Nemesis," Bryce called Chuck his only friend. Bryce said that when he wanted Chuck to do something for him. That was a selfish statement, and none of his actions showed he was a friend. In "Chuck vs the Break-up," Bryce was reckless. Even coming to LA put Chuck at risk. He claimed the a list of covers and names was more important that a living person, a friend, who had all of that information in his head and many other secrets. Bryce blatantly risked Sarah cover twice, in the Orange Orange and at the hospital. (I assume the maternity ward wasn't nearby, or he should have been arrested for loitering.) Bryce ordered a woman with a concussion to shoot in Chuck's direction. He obviously didn't care who the shot hit. Then, Bryce doubled-down after the mission and told Chuck it was the right call to take a risky shot. (I thought that was stupid even before my concussion last year, which hospitalized me for almost two weeks. I'm sure my injury was more serious than one in the show that was caused by car explosion debris, but I wouldn't want her shooting a gun for at least a couple weeks.) 3) Jill's lie detector indicated she didn't sleep with Bryce. Jill should have been trained to beat a lie detector. Even if that was the truth and she didn't sleep with him, she could have gone out with him and passed out before they got that far.

I've seen something sort of like this chapter (i.e. Beckman bashing or making her look bad) a few times. The ones I can readily recall are after Stanfield is saved (The Kiss), after a bunkerization (e.g. "Chuck vs the Bunker and two of the three arcs of the "Chuck Versus The Man Who Never Was" stories) or after a download refresh (e.g. Chuck Takes a Stand). I also think I've read one or two with a replacement for Graham. However, this was a chance to bash some of the leaders' early season two choices, so I had to take it. Now in this story, Chuck is a little more official, even without the Intersect. Sarah is sort of a Secret Service handler again, but Chuck is a protectee, an employee, and an in-case-of-emergency contact—not an asset.


	4. All Hail the Queen

_Posted October 2, 2019_

A/N: Why do people want to go to reunions?

* * *

_**October 14, 2008**_

Chuck dumped broken glass from a picture frame into the kitchen trash. He didn't want it surprising anyone in a smaller wastebasket, remembering one time it sliced through the plastic bag, dropping everything to the floor. He took out the picture and folded in half. The hole in the middle of it had ruined it. He'd run in through the shredder later, figuring Sarah wouldn't want pictures of him and her together floating around. One would think the garbage was safe, but he'd heard Identity theft stories, and a spy would need to be more cautious. Without glass, the frame was useless, so he dropped it in the garbage too.

Chuck had been thinking about getting one of those digital frames at the Buy More. Now he had a reason. He doubted the screen was tough enough to withstand a flying pencil from his lethal girlfriend, but she expected she'd hesitate enough to pick a different target.

Chuck felt two arms snake around him in a hug. "I'm sorry," Sarah apologized. "I'm just not looking forward to tonight."

"I'm sorry I created this situation. The opportunity to find out what you were like as a teenager was too tempting to pass up." Chuck turned in her arms to face her. "I should have realized that you wouldn't want a trip down memory lane. You never talk about your past."

"It's sweet that you want to know more. I don't mean that in an eight-year old way. I just don't want to dwell on the past when my present is so good and my future is—"

Chuck smiled, "Do you need shades?"

Sarah looked at Chuck with confusion.

At that moment, Ellie walked into the kitchen. Seeing Sarah's expression, she asked, "What did my brother do now?"

Chuck answered, "Oh, nothing. I was just asking Sarah if she needs shades. She doesn't know the expression 'the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.'"

"I know that corny expression," Sarah said. "I was just confused that Chuck actually used it. Chuck didn't actually do something, though. He was cleaning up a picture frame I broke."

Ellie sweetly asked, "But _why_ did you break the frame? I'm his big sister. It's my prerogative to blame him for everything. When it comes to the two of you, I'm normally right." Ellie looked up and down at her two roommates. "What fancy place are you going to eat tonight?"

"That's the problem," Chuck admitted. "When Sarah came by the Buy More today to grab lunch, we ran into two of her classmates from high school, a married couple." Ellie's eyes opened wide. Chuck continued, "I suggested we all go to dinner tonight. I may have overstepped."

Ellie agreed, "Absolutely you overstepped. A woman likes to have an air of mystery about her past."

"You didn't care about that for me when you showed Sarah my baby pictures," Chuck said.

"First, you're a guy. Second, you tell people _everything_. I don't know how you kept the fact that you were working with the CIA secret for so long. Finally, like I said before, I'm your big sister. It's my right to embarrass you." She patted him on the cheek.

Sarah saved Chuck. "That's not it. I don't like talking about my past. High school was not a good time for me. What I'm about to say isn't top secret, but it's not general knowledge in the CIA. My boyfriend and my partner know, though. I was recruited into the CIA out of high school."

Ellie stared for a second, then said, "Wow, that was early. I thought it was bad for Chuck and me with our dad checking out before I was in junior high and physically leaving the week after I turned 18, when we were both still in high school. At least we weren't recruited into the CIA. Does this mean you didn't go to Harvard?"

"No. I went there. I had what you could call a CIA scholarship. When I wasn't studying for classes, I was training."

"I assume these old classmates of yours don't know you were recruited into the CIA."

"No. Nobody from back then knows. In fact, they still don't know my name was legally changed to Sarah Walker, and I don't want them knowing it. They called me the name I used in high school. Knowing my past would be concerning enough, but that's not the worst of it. The woman we are going to meet? She was the head cheerleader. You know the bad stereotype. Completely true."

"Too bad you can't show her what you've learned. I wouldn't mind if the Queen 'B' at my high school received a good beat down." First Bryce. Now Heather Chandler. Despite being a doctor, Ellie showed no compassion to enemies of her family and friends.

"I could, but I shouldn't." Sarah put her arm around Chuck. "I have this guy to keep me in line." She bumped her hip into his and kissed his cheek.

Ellie said, "Well, try to find another way of having a good time. Maybe the food will be good."

* * *

Ellie was home alone, having trouble sleeping. Devon was on-call and had been called in. Also, Chuck and Sarah weren't back from their dinner, yet. They should have returned hours ago. Ellie heard the door open and Sarah call out, "Ellie! Chuck's hurt! He needs his head examined!"

Ellie hurried into the hall while tying her robe. She knew something was up because the apartment wasn't a good place for an emergency check-up of a head injury. She asked in jest, "Have you finally confirmed my brother is nuts? I've been saying that since I was twelve."

Sarah said, "No, he really hit his head. Something happened in the restroom at the restaurant, causing Chuck to faint. When he fell, he hit his head on the sink counter."

All teasing disappeared from Ellie's demeanor. "You mean he really got hurt? That's worse than I was expecting when you told me about this dinner. Chuck, have a seat. Let me take a look."

Chuck reluctantly turned out a dining room chair and sat. He said, "You know I've been looked at already. That's part of where we were for the past several hours. We took Sarah's classmate to the hospital. Some Russians broke his leg."

"What!?"

"Well, I assume they are Russians. They sounded like they were Eastern European. Russians are the most obvious bad guys from that part of the world, and Casey blames them for everything. Sarah could probably identify where in Russian they're from by their accents."

Ellie looked to Sarah, "I thought this was dinner with old high school classmates, not spy-stuff."

"It was _supposed_ to just be dinner. We don't know what happened. Casey and I will be investigating more tomorrow when the husband is released from the hospital. We went too, where they checked Chuck for a concussion, but I'd trust it more if you double-check. His head is important to me."

"Of course." Ellie held a finger for Chuck's eyes to follow. "Too bad I can't see the head scan, but that's secured in hospital records."

Sarah said, "I can get you into his digital file. Chuck's here, so it shouldn't violate HIPPA concerns."

Ellie continued her examination, looking at the spot of the bump. "There will be access logs. It might set off flags if a second doctor remotely accesses his records."

Chuck volunteered, "I can erase tonight's records completely. That'll prove that I can still think."

Ellie said, "You can do that?" The expression on Sarah's face mirrored the question.

"I do have an Electrical Engineering degree from Stanford, and I work with computers."

That seemed to be enough for Ellie, though Sarah still looked doubtful. She said, "A piece of paper doesn't bestowed hacking power."

Chuck didn't explain further. Ellie went back and grabbed a medical kit and a laptop so she could look at the hospital's pictures. She started taking Chuck's blood pressure as she said to Sarah, "To think you weren't the one that attacked the people you went to high school with—not that I think you'd just start attacking people without good reason. They just sounded like they deserved it."

Sarah said, "The man who was attacked wasn't the problem. He was awkward and was bullied in school. I don't know why the head cheerleader ever _talked_ to him, not to mention married him. I do understand the attraction of the nerd." She ran her hands through Chuck's hair as she stood by him. "But Chuck's special, and the wife is shallow. At the hospital, she was more upset that she had to eat out of a vending machine than the fact that her husband had been assaulted and is going to be on crutches. Actually, she complained he'd be on crutches for the reunion this weekend."

Ellie looked at an MRI scan and said, "This looks fine. I'm glad that Chuck did a safe thing, staying out of a fight when he's not trained for that sort of thing." She turned the computer to Chuck. "I'll leave this to you. And I'll leave him to you," she said to Sarah before she headed back to bed. She should be able to sleep now that her imagination wouldn't think one of Sarah's old enemies had found them.

* * *

Sarah walked out to the living room, where Ellie was reclining into her fiancé on the sofa. The two of them had the Friday off and had settled in to watch ER reruns on TNT before dinner.

Devon said, "Where are you two lovebirds going tonight?" Sarah wore a new, purple dress and was fixed up for a night out. She wrote the bracelet Chuck had given her for Christmas, though she wore that most days.

Sarah said with no enthusiasm, "My high school reunion. Chuck spends more time in front of the mirror than I do. I like his curls 'untamed,' but he doesn't have the experience I do getting ready quickly. It's supposed to take two hours to get there, but I can get to San Diego in an hour and a half without trouble. We have time."

Ellie sat up straight. "You're going to that? Sarah, I thought you hated high school. Why would you voluntarily go there? Unless this is for work because of what happened the other night."

Sarah didn't say anything. Ellie saw she wasn't getting an answer and said, "Right. You can't talk about spy missions. I don't like Chuck going there. I don't like you going someplace dangerous either, because I don't want anything to happen to you, but you can handle yourself."

Sarah finally said, "The man we had dinner with the other night is being a good husband and is going on crutches. He does design work for a government contract, so my bosses want some extra security. This couple already knows Chuck is my boyfriend, so he should be there if I am. No matter what happens in the mission, my primary objective is to make sure nothing happens to Chuck, and my bosses have agreed with that stipulation. I'll make sure he's safe, even if that means not allowing him to go to the restroom by himself. Casey is already on his way to San Diego. We're just being cautious. The worst thing is actually spending time with all of these people whom I never cared if I ever saw again."

Chuck joined them and said, "Don't worry. I got your back." He kissed Sarah on the cheek, and then took a step back, looking her up and down. "Wow. You're...wow." He asked the others in the room, "Isn't she wow? She's going to blow away everyone at the reunion."

Devon said, "You know if you really want to impress everyone at the reunion, you should introduce Chuck as your fiancé."

Standing behind Sarah, Chuck tried to wave off Devon. Ellie elbowed him in the gut.

Devon tried to explain what he meant. "It's just a thought. Everyone are reunions embellishes. It's not like Sarah can say was she really does, even though that is more awesome than what most people will be claiming. Showcasing a fiancé would just be another way to show how awesome she is. Half the engaged people at reunions aren't really engaged. They are just making their lives seem better."

Sarah said, "My life is great. Why would I want everything to be different? I don't care what those people think."

Ellie agreed, "Your life is great, and our life is great with you in it. You don't need to be drawing attention to you and Chuck, considering whatever bad guys you think are going to be there."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Chuck feigned confusion.

Sarah said, "She figured out this is a mission, Chuck. It's not realistic to keep a secret when you came home injured. I don't think she has reasoned out that this entire thing is your fault, though. If you hadn't been so friendly with people I never wanted to be around in high school, we wouldn't be going to this thing tonight. Somebody might have stolen secrets, though. Now we can prevent that, so it might be a wash."

Ellie said, "I hadn't figured that out yet, but it makes sense that it's Chuck's fault. Sarah, I know he said he's got your back, but I'm counting on you to make sure both of you come back ok."

"That's always the plan." Sarah took Chuck hand and pulled him to the door.

Ellie called after them, "Be careful, have fun, and don't kill anyone, if you can help it."

* * *

Chuck and Sarah opened the door to their apartment after their reunion "experience" (Mission... disaster... situation they'll survived—experience was as good of a word as any.) Devon was racing at an extremely high speed on his stationary bike. One would think he should put it into a lower gear instead of spinning his legs so fast. Ellie had her head in the stove, cleaning. It was just after midnight. Their shifts weren't early on Saturday, but the only reason they would have stayed up that late was because they were waiting to find out about the reunion. They were in for a surprise.

When Chuck and Sarah were barely two steps inside, the other couple abruptly stopped what they were doing. Devon was trying to look more casual, like his routine had just finished. There wasn't a point as Ellie showed no pretense.

Ellie saw Sarah's dress was ruined, her make-up had been wiped off, her mouth was split, and she had a shiner developing into a back eye. "Sarah, are you ok? I was going to ask how it went, but I can see it didn't go how a reunion is supposed to go. Or maybe it did. Did you kick her ass?"

Chuck silently nodded, and Sarah said, "Chuck," tilting her head toward their bedroom, where they could talk.

After a couple minutes, Chuck and Sarah returned. Devon and Ellie were sitting stiffly on the couch. It wasn't a show of patience since no one would casually sit that way. It was clear they were waiting for answers.

Sarah took a chair, and Chuck took the seat beside his sister. Ellie's raised eyebrows obviously said, "Well?"

Sarah responded to Ellie's eyebrow inquiry, "Chuck's convinced me that I can tell you a few things. You already know a little of what I do, where we went tonight, and why we went. You can see something happened to me and know some of what happened the other night. He argued that if I pulled the classified card, your imaginations would make things worse, though you might not be too far off. Close but wrong can cause problems. I can't tell you everything, of course, but some details might be prudent in case you're contacted by anyone from the reunion committee in the next few days. If someone does, let me know, and I'll take care of it. After today, we shouldn't talk about this again. It's better that you know enough of what is going on around you that you don't think the worst and can't be blindly manipulated."

Sarah waited for Ellie and Devon to nod that they understood, then she continued. "_Someone_," Sarah sharply looked at Chuck, "didn't put down a fake contact address. The other people there shouldn't know anything happened, though they could see I got into a fight. Fortunately, there was another classmate who was selling alcohol and drugs out of his trunk. The police activity for his arrest should have covered other things."

"Wait. This was because you took out a dealer?" Ellie asked in confusion.

Chuck said, "No. Sarah went to 'Bad Guy High.' Sarah easily took out that guy when she thought he was behind the problems."

Sarah clarified, "I thought he was behind the attack at the restaurant. He was a jock and the biggest bully in high school. I didn't even break a heel when kicked him in the face and knocked him out. Chuck and the DJ are the only people who found out I did that."

"The DJ?" Devon asked.

"Casey's cover. You would think he'd be big into 80's music, but he surprised us with his late 90's repertoire. Later, we figured out that the woman we had dinner with was the real problem."

"So this," Ellie leveled her hand to point at Sarah's face, "is actually from you fighting with the person who deserved it?"

"Yes. She deserved and got a good ass-kicking. Unfortunately, she's been trained, so it wasn't as easy as the former jock."

Chuck reached out and took Sarah hand across the corner. "But you don't bring a gun to a knife fight."

Devon said, "The saying is the other way around."

"Yeah, but the saying doesn't account for the knife wielder being my bad-ass girlfriend. That reminds me. I'll be right back." Chuck got up, gave Sarah a quick kiss, then hurried to the door and stepped outside.

While they waited for Chuck, Ellie checked with Sarah, "You had this treated, right?"

"I was given first aid before we left. I didn't take pain meds because I'd be driving and I've dealt with far worse. Some Ibuprofen would probably be a good idea."

Devon went and got a bottle of pain pills and a glass of water. He told Sarah to take three.

Chuck returned, and Sarah protested, but Chuck ignored her and put a crown on her head. He said, "I present...the queen."

"Awesome. You gotta beat up a despised classmate, and they named you queen."

Ellie said, "I thought Devon's high school reunion was no fun. At least he's still friends with the guys he knows from college. His reunion reinforced my decision to pass on my own. However, if I knew _this_ was a possibility."

Sarah said, "It wasn't exactly low-profile, so it wasn't a welcome surprise. Keep in mind, this is the place I was going to school when I was recruited into the CIA. I'm not even in the yearbook and until tonight, they didn't have contact information for me. In fact, they still don't because they have an old name of mine that the CIA scrubbed."

"Maybe it's a good thing that Chuck wasn't introduced as your fiancé or husband," Devon said. "If he were, they might contact him trying to find you for the next reunion."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they try that anyway. Oh, don't be surprised if you find this," Sarah pointed to the crown on her head, "in pieces in a garbage can."

Ellie smiled. "Why would you want to destroy something made of fake diamonds that reminds you of the night you gotta beat up the head cheerleader?"

Everyone laughed except Sarah, who didn't think the situation was funny. She moved her hand to remove the crown, but Chuck lightly swatted it, so she left it.

Devon asked, "Did you win the crown before or after the fight?"

"No one knows what happened. The husband knows his wife was behind the attack at the restaurant, but he doesn't know that Chuck nor I were involved. The fight was in a locker room. I had followed her out of the gym because she was acting suspicious. Turns out there was a reason. Two of her hired goons attacked her husband, again. Casey found them by following him. I don't know if they did anything except scare their target enough to make him fall off his crutches. One of them had a gun out, but that was just a threat. They wouldn't have shot him because they needed him to give them some stolen information. That wouldn't work if he was dead. Chuck was _never_ around any of this. I ordered him to stay in the crowd, and he listened."

Chuck re-enforced, "When Sarah and Casey are fighting the bad guys, I stay out of the way."

Sarah gave Chuck a stare, but she didn't disagree. Instead she said, "We need to be going to bed. Ellie, Devon, that's all you get to know. Actually, that's more than I'd like you to know because I would have preferred to have this thing on my head thrown into the bottom of the ocean before you ever found out about it."

"Shot into the sun," Chuck said. Sarah stared at Chuck again, this time it had less anger and more confusion. He explained, "The ocean didn't work well in _Titanic_."

Sarah said, "I know that one. That movie came out my senior year. Everyone saw it. The picture of the necklace was salvaged, not the necklace. The necklace wasn't found because she didn't drop it into the ocean until the end of the movie."

"Ok, you have a point. We'll keep your crown safe for you until you've waited as long as Rose did."

"Fine, eighty-five years from now, we'll both be over 110. I'll get it from you then. I'm not letting you near a cruise ship before then. Cruise disasters are always on the news."

Everyone was quiet, with small smiles. "What?"

Ellie said, "You're going to be here in eight-five years?"

"I don't know about _here_. I'm not letting anything happen to Chuck before then, and this place is on the first floor, so we wouldn't have to deal with stairs. We might need better health care facilities, though."

Everyone's smiles grew bigger.

"What?"

Devon said, "You're sticking around."

"Why would I want to spend my future anywhere Chuck isn't?"

"No reason," Ellie said, still smiling.

Chuck stood up and pulled Sarah into a big kiss. As the two of them started to go to their room, Chuck removed Sarah's crown and handed it to Ellie. "Please put that someplace safe. Sarah needs to rest after her fight, and I don't want her getting up in the middle of the night to search the room to find and destroy it."

"I understand," Ellie said as she took it. She smirked at Sarah, almost daring the spy to do something about it. Sarah knew she could, but her boyfriend was one thing. She had no desire to go up against her boyfriend's sister.

Chuck then said, "One more thing...I finally convinced Casey to buy a Beastmaster. He'd been saying that he didn't want to spend taxpayer money on a grill, but I successfully argued that he needed experience using one to be a better salesman for his cover job. Tomorrow evening, Casey's cooking burgers on his new grill. The money from his Buy More job wasn't enough to cover steak. You're all invited. I'm stopping at the store to get more pickles." Chuck hugged Sarah into his side, making it clear who the pickles were for. "Be there for great food," Chuck stated before they left.

Back in their bedroom, Sarah told Chuck, "After starting this whole mess, you handled the situation fairly well. I'm ignoring the fact that you kept the crown. Please omit any information about it from any mission reports that you have to do for your consultancy job. They might want one of those, even though you're not an agent. The government likes its paperwork. I'll answer _one_ question about my past. You've earned that much."

Chuck thought for a second, then said, "No thanks. I don't need to know more, not about who you were. Because as much as you don't think so, I know who you are: the woman I love. And I know where you are going to be tonight: right at my side. That's enough for me." They shared a soft kiss for a few moments.

After they pulled apart, Sarah said, "If someone contacts you in ten years wanting your help finding Jennifer Burton, please don't reveal that I've been sleeping next to you every night." She started getting ready for bed. "And I know you lied to your sister about staying out of things while Casey and I neutralize the bad guys. If you want that to be true, try staying in the car."

Despite Sarah making the argument while wearing only half of her sleep-wear, Chuck knew there was small chance of that. He hadn't missed the implication that Sarah had said she'd be right next to him in ten years. With her previously stated eighty-five year plan, that made twice in the last five minutes. His only disagreement with those assumptions was he hoped it wouldn't be Sarah Walker, but Sarah Bartowski, instead.

* * *

A/N: Want more "Chuck vs the Cougars" fallout? In June, I posted a one-shot, "Chuck vs Jenny Burton," set in 2019. It's in the same universe as my post-finale story, "Chuck & Sarah vs Their Next Adventure," but if you don't want to read that 5 part, 29 chapter story first, "Chuck vs Jenny Burton" can be read by itself.


	5. The Sky Is Falling

_Posted October 6, 2019_

A/N: Why keep secrets from Ellie and Devon, doctors sworn to do no harm? Would they sell out their friends and family to make a buck? Absolutely not. That idea is absurd. Can they keep a secret? Yes. That's their job. Secrets are good drama at the beginning of a story, but at some point it is silly to treat trustworthy people like the rest of the green shirts and the herd.

In this story, Ellie and Devon already know they live with a CIA agent. That means at some level, they have knowingly accepted some risk, They are trusting the people they live with to minimize the risk. If they know something unimportant is being hidden from them, they might want to find out more, thinking they can help, even if they can't really. Devon is awesome even though he wasn't good at dealing with spy stuff at least at keeping secrets from the CIA, and Ellie really helped in the show. They weren't about to just stay on the sidelines. They are safer not being made out to be suckers. If little things that do not actually jeopardize national security are not being deliberately hidden through extreme efforts and stories (e.g. spastic colon), but other things _intentionally_ are being hidden, they are more likely to trust that secrecy is justified.

Now Morgan? I could see keeping the secret from him. He's insanely loyal, but in the first three seasons, his judgement was often flawed (e.g. Blowing Chuck's cover on his first mission, revealing Jill, finding Chuck and Sarah in Europe). He's not at issue here.

Back to this chapter's episode... What can the LA team do if no one flashes on a Rush song and no one can figure out how the music of that song arbitrarily maps to video game moves? Is the sky fated to fall?

* * *

Casey blew through a red light in downtown Los Angeles. Ellie, sitting in the middle of the back seat of Casey's Crown Vic, gripped harder to the hands of Chuck and Devon, sitting to her sides. Sarah, sitting in the passenger seat, argued with someone on her cell phone.

"We're taking Chuck, his sister, and her fiancé to the underground base in downtown LA. We don't know what is going to happen. There isn't time for a full city evacuation. It'd be like Three Mile Island with either the evacuation riskier than the actual leak, or it too late to do anything. The five of us are going to an underground facility until we know it's safe. If something happens, we'll need doctors. If nothing happens, we can all go home." She hung up.

Ellie said, "What's going on? You ordered us into Casey's car, and he's driving like a maniac taking us who knows where. Now you say doctors might be needed. That sounds serious."

Chuck tried to call her down. "The world isn't going to end. There's an imminent terrorist threat. Sarah's taking us someplace safe."

Casey weaved around two cars that were in front of them.

Sarah explained, "A few weeks ago, I was assigned to officially protect Chuck through the Secret Service. You don't need to know the details. It's related to what brought me here last year. Today, my CIA affiliation has made me aware of certain information, that everyone's lives are at risk. For this instance, I'm extending my protection duties to the two of you. I'd feel a lot better if I know all of you are safe for the next two hours, so we're taking you underground in a secure facility."

To bypass cars at a stop light, Casey drove in the empty lanes for traffic going the other direction, running another red light. This time, they heard screeching tires and honking horns from cross-traffic at the intersection. Casey just drove faster.

Devon said, "We're not on-call, but if there's an emergency, we should go to the hospital. They'll need all hands on deck."

Sarah said, "If nothing happens, you won't be needed. If something does happen, there's medical facilities at the place we're going, and those are not regularly staffed. You won't be going to the hospital because you will be needed there."

Casey sharply turned into the entrance of downtown office building. At the guard station before the parking lot, he and Sarah showed badges. Indicating the people in the back, Sarah said, "Their identities are classified. They're my protectees for my current assignment with the Secret Service." The guard scanned their IDs, looked at something on a computer screen, and let them pass.

Inside in the lobby, they could see the place had been put on alert. Everyone was moving, and several people were practically yelling. At the security screening line just past the door, Casey showed his badge. He was saluted by the guard. Casey indicated Sarah, "Agent Carmichael and I are armed, and we don't have time for a full screening." They both showed the handguns tucked into their waists. "Sergeant, I'm supposed to head directly to the command center. The other three are civilian, high priority protectees. Agent Carmichael will escort them to an emergency, sub-level room."

Chuck said, "Actually, I'm a special consultant to the CIA. I should go to the command center, too."

The guard said, "If you aren't staying in protective custody, I need to see your ID."

"I never got one. Oh, I know." Chuck tapped the screen on his cell phone several times. After a few seconds, he held up the phone to reveal a QR code.

The sergeant lifted a scanner to it, then looked at his computer screen. After another couple seconds, his face changed when he saw what it said. "Yes, Mr Carmichael. It says hear you have been cleared to go wherever you want." The guard paused and looked to Sarah who was going by the same last name. He didn't say anything about it and continued, "You and Major Casey should take the elevators to the second sub-basement, then down the hall to the right. Go all the way to the end, then left. There will be a guard there to greet you. He'll want to confirm your IDs again."

Past security, outside the elevators, Sarah stopped Chuck and said, "Why are you going with Casey?"

"They will have access to the Federal computer network. I have to see if I can help."

"This is different than what you did to our computer network at home. You should come with us."

"Sarah, trust me. I might be able to help. I _need_ to try." He kissed her full on the lips. "Just keep them safe. I'll be able to see what is going on, and if necessary, I'll come join you." Two elevators opened. He and Casey took the first elevator while Sarah, Ellie and Devon took the second.

* * *

Secure inside a small room in the tenth level sub-basement, Ellie couldn't hold it in any longer. "What's going on!? I know you can't tell me everything, but it's obvious that this place is on high alert. Are we under attack? Why isn't Chuck with us? I thought he wasn't working with you guys."

Sarah calmly said, "A year ago, Chuck did stop working with us. A few weeks ago, coincidentally around when his degree was finally cleared up, there was a change, and Chuck was hired as a part-time consultant. For that job, he's not supposed to be in any danger. He's just providing technical expertise. Part of it's related to the fact that he made his home computer have an incredibly high speed and secure connection to the CIA network so I could work from home. People were impressed. Chuck has full access to the CIA computer network. His clearance is extremely high, higher than mine. He seems to think his expertise could help in this situation. I don't understand how, but at this point, he couldn't hurt. Casey will keep an eye on him, but I'm going to find out more about what is going on. That means leaving you here. Take a couple chairs and make yourselves comfortable. This is the safest place for you. Do not go anywhere, even the restroom, without Casey, Chuck, or me as escort. If something changes, one or all of us will be back. Try not to worry. I'll handle this."

"Chuck is still in danger?" Ellie asked.

"Not with me protecting him. Chuck is important—to both the government and me, personally. Since the government cares about his safety, I get to make sure he's safe. You two are important to both of us, so I'm making sure you are safe, too."

Devon put his arm around Ellie's shoulders and guided her to a couple chairs against the wall. It didn't look that comfortable, but it would have to do. He said, "We trust you, Sarah."

Sarah locked them in the room as she left.

* * *

Sarah easily found the 'command center' because of the armed guard standing outside of it. She thought it was pointless because the entire building was supposed to be secure, but the extra guard was procedure. Before she could say anything, the guard asked to see her ID. After looking at it, he said to go inside because she was expected.

Inside, there were almost a dozen frantic people, half of them on cell phones. Sarah found Casey sitting in front of the far wall. In front of him was a specialized computer in a metal case. The wall had four inset TV screens with a bunch of other panels with lights. He ripped open a black card, revealing a several sets of white numbers, presumably launch codes. One of the screens showed a man in a different computer center somewhere else, flipping switches.

The other three screens were rapidly changing, moving under the command of the curly-haired man sitting at a keyboard to Casey's right. Normally the sight of Chuck made her feel safe, but not today. Some terrorists were trying to fire a weapons satellite that they captured at them. No one was supposed to have weapons like that in space, not to mention a country whose JSDF was only supposed to be for self-defense and, for less than a decade, for multi-country, anti-terrorism efforts.

Chuck stopped as another man brought up a bottle of wine and set it to his side. Chuck thanked him, opened the bottle and drank directly out of it.

Sarah didn't know what to say. She thought they all might have a little trouble getting into a secure facility with civilians, but now it looked like Chuck and Casey were in the thick of things and people were serving them drinks. A few people were working on computers on mobile carts that had been brought into the room. However, the room was centered around the wall of screens, lights, and read-outs, and Chuck and Casey were controlling it.

A voice came up to her side, "Ma'am, can I help you?"

Sarah looked at the short nasal man with glasses who had asked her a question. "I came with Major Casey and Mr Carmichael. I had to take care of something else for a few minutes, so I don't know what they are doing at the moment."

The man said, "Major Casey contacted a general in the NSA and was given a communication line with the 30th Space Wing at Vanderberg. We've been trying to get more information about satellite threat. Mr Carmichael used one of these portable PCs to hack into Atari headquarters, where the satellite's late designer worked. When we saw what he had done so quickly, he was given control of the main console. He asked for a bottle of chardonnay. The request was a little unorthodox, but one of the people in charge of this place revealed he had an alcohol supply in his office and it should go to the cause. I'm not sure what Mr Carmichael is doing now."

She looked the badge hanging from the outside of his suit from the pocket, "Thanks, Mr Fitzroy. I'll ask him." Sarah walked up behind Chuck and put her hand softly on the back of his neck as he was taking another swig directly from the large bottle.

Chuck was started and spilled some of the drink down his chin.

Sarah asked, "What are you doing?"

Chuck took her hand from his neck briefly, kissed it, and turned back to what he was doing. "I call it 'The Routine.' It works better with the type of cheap wine that a college student can afford. At least that's all I could afford the last time I tried The Routine. This stuff is better quality."

"At least you're not drinking and driving. I don't know if there are any guidelines about drinking and hacking," Sarah said.

"It changes the Ballmer Curve."

"That what?"

"That's not important."

"What are you doing here?" Sarah pointed to the screens.

Speaking rapidly, Chuck said, "They kidnapped Jeff before dumping him back at the Buy More last night. We know that the terrorists thought that he was important, before realizing he too brain-dead to even unknowingly help them. Looking through Jeff's van, they found a tape in his VCR collection that showed he was on TV for winning a Missile Command championship. Winning a video game contest twenty-five years ago was the most notable thing that happened to him. It also stuck out because Morimoto was in front of an old Missile Command console when he died. Presumably, the game's creator could do well on the game, meaning there is a secret somewhere in the game. Jeff wouldn't know a specific sequence of actions to expose an Easter egg, so it must be something you could find by doing well on the game—like winning the game and getting to the game's 'kill screen' at the end."

Barely taking a breath, with his fingers still flying on the keyboard, Chuck said, "I got into Morimoto's work directory at Atari. There, I found that he kept all of the source code for things he developed, even from the 80's. I'm not that surprised. I do something like that for personal email. Everything was smaller back then, and disk drives are much bigger, so storage is cheap compared to the time it would take to go through all of it and get rid of stuff."

Chuck paused, moved the mouse, typed a little, then continued talking while he worked. "I haven't started looking for the override code yet. It we get it, we could take control, but the bad guys could take control right back. We need to know where they are broadcasting from. Over hear," Chuck pointed to a different screen, "is a list of all of the places in the LA area that could send a signal. We could rule out the government ones, but the list is still huge."

Sarah massaged her hand on the back of Chuck's neck. Chuck grabbed her wrist and kissed her hand again. "I got it! One of the incoherent things Jeff was mumbling about was 'space bags.' They're on an infomercial late on KPFW." He scrolled the list. "Here it is. I'm guessing they had the TV station on while he was tied up. That's probably where they took control of a satellite dish."

"Great thinking, Chuck. Although I don't know when you watch late-night infomercials. We never do."

Chuck mumbled, "I was in a dark place when you left last year. I didn't buy any because they were too expensive on my old Buy More salary."

Sarah leaned over and kissed Chuck's cheek. "I'll take care of the TV station. You get the codes." Sarah turned to the man in the other chair. "Casey, I need the Vic."

Casey pulled out his keys, but held them up, not quite giving them to her. "I know you treat your expensive machine with respect, but the Vic is American. Not a scratch."

Sarah nodded solemnly and started to reach for the keys, but the head of the CIA center, Henry Michaels, came up and asked, "How's it going?"

Casey held back the keys and said, "Carmichael," he nodded at the computer nerd, not the agent, "got a lead on the terrorists' location. He's working on getting the codes to deactivate the satellite. _Agent_ Carmichael is going to take my car to eliminate the terrorist cell."

The man turned to Sarah and said, "I can send a four man tactical team with you."

Sarah said, "We don't have much time. I can't wait for them to get ready."

"They were ready to go as soon as we went on alert, and their vehicle is armored."

"So is my car. She's more than meets the eye," Casey said.

Chuck quietly sang, "Transformers, more than meets the eye." Everyone ignored him, which was just as well because none of them understood the computer source code he was looking at.

Sarah ruled out Casey's car by saying, "We're not blowing up the dish. We need it to override whatever they are doing. I'll go with the team."

Casey shrugged. "Whatever. I'll be here have an ICBM shoot down the satellite if you can't get it stopped soon enough."

Sarah said to Michaels, "Make sure the team is locked and loaded in two minutes when I get upstairs. Otherwise, I'm hot-wiring Major Casey's car, and he won't be happy."

"They will be there," he said.

Sarah put both hands on Chuck's cheeks and turned him in his seat before giving a full, hard kiss for several seconds. "I love you. I'll see you when this is done." She left before Chuck could shake the dazed, happy expression off his face. When she had been out of the room a few seconds, Chuck finally broke his freeze and went back to digging through the source code.

* * *

Chuck opened the door to the room in which Ellie and Devon had been secured. He said, "It's safe."

Ellie shot across the room and hugged Chuck with all of her strength. After a few moments, she released Chuck, and Chuck and Devon exchanged a back slap hug. Devon normally underestimated his strength, but it was light compared to what Ellie had done.

"Where's Sarah?" Ellie asked.

"I talked with Sarah on the phone seconds before I came here. She's fine. She went out into the field and _personally_ took care of the problem. Not even a scratch. The team she went with is staying onsite. She'll be here soon. Casey is talking to his boss."

Ellie hugged Chuck again. "So you are still a spy?"

"No. Only Sarah and Casey are spies. I'm doing some part-time consultancy work for the CIA and NSA. I'm good with computers, and they want my help."

"Don't they have their own computer experts?"

"Yes, but I couldn't just sit by and do nothing when I could help the woman I love."

Chuck stepped out of the hug and said, "You need to forget about everything that happened today after Sarah said we had to leave the apartment. It's good that you don't know anything else because that means the good guys stopped anything bad from happening. You don't need to know anything else."

Ellie seriously said, "I can't forget that you are working as a spy when you're just an assistant manager at an electronics store. It's great that you are doing that. I also knew you could do more. However, assistant managers don't have their lives regularly put into danger."

"I can do some things related to computers that the government finds useful. I'm _just_ a consultant. Sarah and Casey are the spies. They're always going to keep me safe. I'm just helping out on the tech side. No one else should know what I do outside of my assistant manager job. You know Sarah. If I tried to do anything slightly dangerous, she wouldn't allow it. Working with the government lets me help keep Sarah safe without the punching and the shooting."

Ellie frowned and said, "I don't like it, but I suppose this is better than you following Sarah into danger, which you would do if they didn't put you in front of a computer. This way, you'll stay out of trouble, where you can do what you do."

* * *

After dinner, Chuck and Sarah went out the apartment's back slider to the small patio to enjoy the night air. Sarah clinked their bottles and took a drink.

Chuck said, "Ellie seems ok with it all. You never know about Devon. He always says things are awesome, but someday it might be too much. Not today. With Ellie, though... Sometimes she is more like a protective mom than a sister, but today she's all smiles. Whatever you said to her, it worked. Thank you."

Sarah said, "I did have a talk with Ellie. She agrees that this situation is better than the alternatives. With you working part-time for the government, there's some official guidelines instead of you repeatedly jumping in head-first and getting into dangerous situations. She doesn't know what happened with her engagement ring, but she knows you were involved back when you _weren't_ officially working for the government. Ellie also likes having me here, even if that means bringing spy stuff into your proximity. She doesn't want you wallowing and trusts me to keep you safe. She doesn't know that because of your past with the Intersect and with the Fulcrum infiltration, you don't have a choice: I'm not leaving you."

Sarah and Chuck briefly kissed. Sarah took another drink, and continued, "Hopefully, something like today will never happen again. I proposed Ellie and Devon going through an orientation session at the Federal building downtown. If something bad like this happens again, they will more easily be put right to work in the building's emergency facilities where they can take care of the people who are on the front lines. I agreed that she should talk about it with Devon. After that, we might set up something for next week."

Chuck said, "If they aren't at the hospital, I know they'd want to help in the medical center. I didn't know if they would've been allowed."

"There might have been some resistance, but if everything went sideways, no one would have thrown away help from real doctors, especially with Casey and me there to vouch for them. A lot of field agents get some training, but professionals would be better. An orientation session would just grease the wheels and make them more effective. What I want to know about is the hacking."

Chuck took a slow drink from his bottle, a clear stalling tactic. Sarah put her hand on her hip. One look was enough to make Chuck cave.

"I used to do a little hacking when I was at Stanford. Nothing serious. I was just seeing what I could do. I was pretty good at it and was well known in certain circles."

"Chuck, I know Atari is full of really smart people. They gotta have top-notch computer security. We had analysts trying to break into their network after we found out about Morimoto. They were unsuccessful. You did it in the five minutes while I took Ellie and Devon to a secure room. You hadn't even started your 'Routine.' That's better than 'pretty good.'"

"I guess so. I'd rather the government not know too much about that. They might have records about the hacker name I used back then. I don't want a _Swordfish_ situation. They might insist I hack my own brain to break the suppression, not worrying about the fact that the brain works differently than a computer."

Sarah exhaled in acceptance. "I haven't seen _Swordfish_, but I agree that the government doesn't need to know your past. They don't know my past before Jenny Burton." She pointed at Chuck. "No showing off. I'd rather them not have another reason to want control over you."

"Agreed. Only you get that," Chuck said.

Sarah smiled and gave Chuck a quick peck on the lips. "Hopefully they don't get too curious after today. They should just be thankful. I still can't believe you figured out the Missile Command program that fast."

"Once I had the source code, that wasn't very hard. There was a function called for missile_state killscreen. Actually, decompiled source code, with less useful variable and function names, is publicly available on the Internet. There's software that people have used to emulate thousands of the old arcade games from the 80's. They reverse-engineered the games and the source code is easy to dig into... And you don't need to know all of this."

Sarah smiled. "That's ok. You're cute when you nerd-out." She gave Chuck a soft kiss.

"I should stop talking so we can go back to our bedroom."

Sarah gave Chuck another quick kiss. "We have plenty of time later to celebrate surviving today. Tell me about this emulator thing."

"It's called MAME."

"Maim? Like what I did to two of the terrorists today?"

"That's a little hot, but no. It's spelled M-A-M-E. Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. They try to exactly replicate old games so they can be played on home computers. They leave in bugs and Easter eggs. That means Missile Command source code is freely available. It was reckless to put weapon satellite control codes where anyone could find them. We're fortunate that the terrorists went after Jeff and Morimoto, or we wouldn't have known anything until they attacked. Morimoto's source code copy at Atari made finding the override code faster. It was less than 2000 lines of code. Windows 95 had 15 million lines of code."

After Chuck finished, Sarah leaned in for another kiss. That one wasn't quick, and the intensity escalated. They parted after a couple minutes. Sarah looked to the sky and pointed out a bright star.

Sarah said, "You see that star out there on the horizon? That's the Air Force bouncing Morimoto's satellite off the atmosphere and burning it up. Make a wish. It's yours."

Chuck gave Sarah a serious look. They would be heading back to the bedroom very soon.

Sarah asked, "I can guarantee that's going to happen. You didn't need to waste a wish."

"No, that wasn't it." He wasn't going to mention his proposal plan. It was still just a hope, not even a well-formulated plan. He wished he could figure it out.

Chuck leaned in for another kiss. Then he led Sarah back inside, though the living room, to their final destination. Lead...be led...it didn't matter. They were going the same place.

* * *

A/N: In Costa Gravas, Ellie saw Chuck in action (albeit with the Intersect 2.0) and trusted it. Chuck didn't say anything because she was pregnant. In "Chuck vs Agent X," she accepted that Chuck was a spy. In this chapter, she saw Chuck in action, or at least saw how he was treated and learned that he saved the day, even though she never was told the details. With evidence right in front of her, she accepted the spy stuff.

In the episode, the terrorists took control of KPFW, channel 13. KPFW channel 18 is in Dallas. In LA, channel 13 is KCOP, the MyTV affiliate. KNBC 4 in LA would have made more sense for a show on NBC. KTLA channel 5, the CW affiliate, would have worked too because of Warner Bros.'s half ownership of CW.

What is the Ballmer Curve? See xkcd 323.

What about MAME? See MAME on Wikipedia. It was created for MS-DOS in 1997. The emulator was ported to Windows, Mac, and Linux before 2003. It's been ported to other systems like PDAs, digital cameras, and Chrome.

The Missile Command source code for MAME is freely available at Github. Missile Command doesn't have a special kill screen (i.e. screen where the quarter is "killed.") The end screen was put at the end of _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_. (YouTube: watch?v=Lt-ObnYcHzY?t=1m45s)

The three episodes of Jill arc are next. Two of the key goals of this story were to lock up Bryce and for Chuck and Sarah to deal with the appearance of Jill. A third is Chuck's wish. Hopefully I didn't jinx it by revealing the wish, but nothing happens for a couple chapters anyway.


	6. Remember, She's an Ex for a Reason

_Posted October 15, 2019_

A/N: You-know-who is back! No. It's not "Chuck vs the Nemesis" time. The other one. It's time for the chapters paralleling "Chuck vs the Ex," "Chuck vs the Fat Lady," and "Chuck vs the Gravitron." No amusement park here, but hopefully you still have fun. Chuck didn't have fun there anyway.

Have you ever had dinner with an ex after several (or many) years later as "friends?" Was the person an evil ex? My high school sweetheart wasn't evil, but her daughter was in high school, so that was weird. I went to her wedding reception, too, so that was weirder.

* * *

**_November 18, 2008_**

Chuck sat quietly in the passenger seat as Sarah drove him home. Almost defensively, Chuck held his shoulder case on his lap, not that would be much of a barrier against his girlfriend if she decided to attack him, for whatever he had done. He wasn't sure what he should have done differently, but it didn't matter because Sarah was mad. He was glad she loved him, because he was sure his Herder bag would be an inadequate defense against one of her knives, even with her driving.

Chuck asked, "Did you put her in a dumpster behind the convention center?"

"Who? Jill?"

"Yes, Jill. Pretty much the last person I wanted to see."

"I didn't touch her. You're the one who did that. Just so you know, a dumpster isn't a good receptacle for someone ground into pieces, unless you have a plastic bag. It works better if you have a couple of bags."

"That's specific."

Sarah shrugged. "I had time to think while I was waiting for you to finish your computer thing."

"You didn't have to come. I could have gotten there and back by myself. I didn't need a babysitter."

"That's not what I was doing. I was doing my _job_. That place had over a hundred people from all over the country. It was an ideal place for a threat to slip in unnoticed, and you were distracted doing Nerd Herd work. Why are you still doing that? You've been the assistant manager for a while."

"Every so often I like to do the installs myself, don the uni, and kind of get my hands mussy. Plus Skip was out sick today, and Jeff and Lester are 'Mac artists.' Putting it another way, they are Mac snobs. They put up a fuss about this kind of work. Normally it's annoying, but It's best not to put them in crowds where they will interact with random women, unsupervised. So for things like this, it works."

Sarah said, "It was a good thing you weren't unsupervised. When you hid under the table, I almost pulled out a gun because I thought there was trouble. I didn't realize what kind of trouble. A minute later, you were hugging her."

"It wasn't a real hug, or even a friend hug or a bro-hug. It was an awkward, over-table hug. What else was I supposed to do? Pretend to be a germaphobe like her boss?"

"That was her boss? I thought it was her boyfriend based on how they walked off, arm-in-arm," Sarah said.

"She said he was her boss."

Sarah pointed out, "That doesn't mean she's not sleeping with him. That woman chose to sleep with _Bryce_ instead of staying with you. I slept with Bryce. If I knew you existed, that would never have happened. There's no way anyone who knew you would think you stole the tests. Plus sleeping with you is _so_ much better. Jill had to have some other reason. Maybe she secretly loved that murderer before you two even met."

Chuck said, "Hopefully, I never have to see her again. She actually suggested I call her to get coffee."

"And you don't want to?" Sarah asked. "A little part of you doesn't still love her?"

"No! Why would I want to spend one more second with that...not nice person. At one time, I thought I loved her. Maybe I did, but I didn't know any better. I didn't love her her nearly as much as I love you. When I realized she was willing to cheat on me by dating the guy who betrayed me, I didn't love her anymore. I missed what I thought we had more than I missed _her_. I told her that I thought Bryce did it. She responded by dating him."

"That's mean, and that's the opinion of a CIA assassin. Bryce was a CIA recruit back then. I once guessed she was in on framing you, but decided she was just an awful person after I verified she wasn't a recruit as well."

Sarah pulled into a parking spot by their apartment. She said, "You go ahead in a take a shower. Scrub hard to make sure that shank's smell is off of you. I'll join you in a minute when I'm sure you are clean."

Chuck hurried out of the car to clean before his girlfriend joined him.

* * *

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr Bartowski," the tall, attractive, waitress with short, black hair said. "There's a call for you at the bar."

Chuck got up and followed her. Who called restaurants anymore now that everyone had cell phones? It didn't matter. Any excuse to get away from Jill and spend more time with Sarah was a good one.

Sarah's black wig didn't do any good as a disguise. She was still the most attractive person in the place, too good looking even for a struggling waitress in LA. If the wig was to make Jill not feel self-conscious about her looks, it wasn't working.

At the bar, Chuck held a handset up to his ear, with Sarah standing beside him. No one was on the phone, of course. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked.

"Getting closure. She owes me an explanation."

"We need to know what Guy was planning. Look, I know it's hard, but tonight, you have to be a spy, first."

"You don't like it when I try to be a spy. I didn't want to do any of this."

Sarah explained, "Orders. It was Beckman's idea. Burrows didn't stop it."

"I talked to him after the group video conference. He thought you would prevent it for security reasons. We were both surprised you didn't. I can't do what you did Bryce at Thanksgiving. You do the Kung Fu punching and kicking for me."

Sarah spoke in a no-nonsense tone. "You done feeling sorry for yourself?"

"Personally I'd like another ten to fifteen minutes of really pathetic self-indulgence, but duty calls. I'm going back in".

Over the next couple of minutes at the table, Chuck apologized for his earlier line of discussion and changed the topic. Jill seemed to quickly move on. Sarah came over to fill their wine glasses, and Jill laughed at something Chuck said, putting her hand on his arm. The laughter stopped as Sarah continued pouring past the edge of the glass, over the table's edge, and onto Jill's lap. Jill and Chuck abruptly stood, and Jill laid into the waitress for her "clumsiness."

Chuck tried to look affronted, but he knew that was no accident. Sarah always did exactly what she meant to do. Sarah apologized, but Jill wasn't receptive, leaving the table in a huff. Chuck rolled his eyes, not impressed with Jill's outburst. Sarah sounded disappointed with herself. "That was unprofessional of me. I shouldn't have done that. Go after her, Chuck."

Chuck followed. A minute later he came back, by himself.

Sarah gave him a look that asked what happened, so Chuck explained. "Jeff and Lester were outside in a Herder. Lester started to make problems by talking about you. The next time you're at the Buy More, expect him to say some inappropriate things because he thinks I was stepping out on you. Fortunately Jeff asked why they were causing trouble for their boss, not realizing they were supposed to be having fun at my expense. It's a little frightening when Jeff, when either of them, is a voice of reason. Jill heard enough, though, so she didn't want me to drive her home in the Porsche."

"Good riddance. I don't like that woman for how she treated you six years ago. I messed up tonight, but we can find out what we need to know another way, without you taking her on a date."

Chuck interjected, "It wasn't a date. It was a mission."

Sarah ignored the argument and said, "Casey said he's looks forward to talking to her. That's one of us. I think his approach is less subtle than a fake date, but it will be better."

* * *

He did it! Chuck had taken charge of the incident scene at the conference, and everyone was saved. Most of the emergency response personnel were clapping. The only thing missing was Sarah.

Wearing a hazmat suit, Jill said something about Chuck being amazing. He supposed she helped too. They wouldn't have known about the bio-weapon or her talk if she hadn't spilled to Casey. That information did put Casey and Sarah at risk. At least Chuck and Jill were where they could help everyone else. Come to think of it, they were lucky Jill wasn't inside. It was a little strange that Jill wasn't at the talk at all. Fortunately, she was someplace Chuck could get her to help.

Giving the talk would have put a target on Jill's back. Having another speaker meant the information had been passed around the scientific community, so Jill would've been safe in the audience. Even the release of the virus wouldn't contain information that had already been shared. It was a very overt attack that would've put a spotlight on the cure. Neither the attack nor Jill's absence made sense.

Jill threw her arms around Chuck in congratulations. Chuck politely hugged her back, dodging his head to the side when she went in for a kiss. He wished she hadn't grabbed him so strong. Where was Sarah?

At that moment, Sarah stepped up next to him with a frown on her face. Chuck abruptly let go of Jill and gave Sarah a tight hug, which she returned.

After a moment, Chuck and Sarah parted and turned to look at Jill, whose face was mixed with confusion and disappointment.

Chuck said, "Sarah, you know who this is. I brought her to help. When I went in first, it didn't go so well, so it was a good thing Jill was here. You know me and needles—how I passed out when I got my flu shot a couple weeks ago. Jill came in wearing a bio-suit to synthesize the antidote. Jill, this is Sarah. My Sarah."

Sarah stuck out her hand. Jill didn't take it right away. She said, "Weren't you the waitress the other night?"

"Yes. I'm Chuck's girlfriend. Like I said then, I'm very sorry about what happened that night. I shouldn't have done that. I was undercover, but I wasn't ready to see my boyfriend at dinner with another woman."

Chuck added, "In the grand scheme of things, the wine spill was minor, considering the small arsenal Sarah was wearing. We were just trying to figure out why someone wanted to kill your boss...boyfriend...whatever he was. Making my real girlfriend observe the operation was a bad idea. Casey was able to ask you what we wanted to know. He can be over the top, so we thought a dinner would be a gentler approach. Turns out that trying to shield you from him was pointless."

Jill still didn't take the hand Sarah was still holding out, so Sarah dropped it. Jill said to Chuck, "Does this mean you're both with the FBI?"

Sarah said, "Neither Chuck nor I are with the FBI. We're with the Federal government, though. I was tasked with giving your talk."

Chuck asked her, "How'd it go? Was it better because you practiced with me last night? I know the whole 'pretend they are naked' thing didn't make sense when I was already naked, but I still thought practice would help." Jill looked between the two of them, not believing what she was hearing.

Sarah answered, "I didn't get much past my introduction when I had to stop and go after the man who released the gas."

"You got him, of course. I'm glad you're ok." He gave her a kiss.

Sarah and Chuck both looked at Jill, not sure what to say. Sarah finally told her, "Stay here. Casey will need to debrief you." She turned to Chuck, "Let's go home."

Jill asked, "You two live together?"

Chuck said, "Yes. Ellie's cooking tonight, so we don't want to miss that."

Jill looked even more confused. "Ellie?" she asked.

"My sister. You met her once." Chuck didn't mention that Ellie never thought much of Jill and avoided her back when Jill and Chuck were dating. She was never invited with him for the holidays.

"You still live with your sister? I thought you said the two of you live together."

Sarah explained, "I live in a two bedroom apartment with my boyfriend, his sister, and her fiancé." She was done putting up a front. "Thanks for your help today." She took Chuck's hand and led him away from the conversation that she didn't want to be in.

On their way to the car, Chuck quietly said to Sarah, "You're really ok?"

"Yes. The guy who released the gas shot at me. I killed him when I returned fire. He had a CIA badge, so it was another mole inside the government—probably Fulcrum. That means I'm staying even closer to you."

Chuck and Sarah shared a mischievous smile. They both knew they really couldn't get much closer, but they'd have fun trying.

Chuck said, "I'll take a shower and use mouthwash."

Sarah stopped, "You kissed her?"

"Oh no. Casey. I thought saliva would transfer…" Chuck stopped as he saw Sarah's look of disbelief. "Right. Remember, my sister's the person who knows biological stuff. Computer viruses work differently. Like I said, I'll use mouthwash."

Sarah nodded, and they resumed their way to the car. She said, "Please don't mention to Ellie that I ran after the bad guy and that you put yourself in danger to save everyone. I'm proud of you, but she and I are doing wedding planning next week, and I don't want to put her on edge."

"Agreed. She'll be excited enough. She always gets into party planning, but this one is different. She's had plans since she was a teenager. Remember, stick up for yourself. You'll be fine." Chuck gave her a quick kiss before getting in the car.

* * *

A/N: The final push. Not that kind of push. That's after nine months and might lead to a live performance.


	7. Squeaky Clean

_Posted October 17, 2019_

A/N: When you start to look at these episodes more closely and get past the presence of Jill, you realize the chronology and the timescale don't make sense. A multi-day conference wouldn't be the week of Thanksgiving because returning from the conference would require travel on one of the busiest travel days of the year. Does that mean Jill hung around for an extra week? I hadn't realized that she and Chuck were "dating" that long. Also, staying in a hotel meant Jill didn't live in LA. Does that mean she just hung around? Staying in town looks suspicious, but we'll say she blew off her job and took a few extra days off work. Otherwise, Chuck's handlers would have been more concerned, even before the Fulcrum list was decrypted.

In this story, the story arc started a week before the holiday, and this storyline isn't stretched over a week and a half, so don't expect a Thanksgiving miracle. Morgan can save his wish. Of course there's the _Twilight Zone_ episode, "It's a Good Life," with people wished into a corn field, and Jill is still around, so if the wish works on any day...

How is Jill still breathing in this story? As far as we know, she did help save a bunch of lives at the conference. True, she might have sold out Guy, or she could have been a loyal minion in Fulcrum who didn't know what her boss was doing. We don't know. Either way, no one we care about would want her around, but Fulcrum would want her to find out what she could from Chuck about the guy they don't know is in prison...

* * *

_**The next day**_

Who knows how much time they had? Chuck and Sarah rapidly stripped and entered the shower to wash off some unknown chemical. Once bare skin was exposed, time didn't seem to matter much. If they had to go, they wanted to spend the rest of their time as close to each other as possible.

Chuck pushed back after a passionate kiss. Breathing hard, he said, "We really should stop."

"I don't want to stop," Sarah practically whined as she moved back in and wrapped herself against Chuck's naked torso.

"We really should stop before Casey brings back a team."

Sarah quickly jumped back to a neutral side of the shower. "You're right." She tapped a finger on Chuck's chest. "You're absolutely right. Our clothes are contaminated or wet. We should put on robes."

They put on fluffy hotel robes, not as quickly as they intended because they kept stopping for "short" kisses.

Chuck said, "I'm not impressed with these robes. They're not as good as Beverly Palm robes."

Sarah was confused, "I didn't know you have a super-soft robe like this. I haven't seen it in the closet."

"It's not a real robe. It's from a movie that takes place in Beverly Hills. Never mind. Don't worry about it."

"Why don't we already feel the effects?" Chuck mused. "It took a half hour with Casey, but he was feeling bad when he called me after he had been exposed a minute."

Sarah said as she towel-dried her hair, "I don't think that was another bio-weapon. I caught a flavor of something fruity. You taste better than that."

"I noticed that taste too. I just thought that's what poison tastes like."

"Or it was something else, like Kool-Aid," Sarah suggested.

"We can hope. That way we can finish that shower." Chuck wiggled his eyebrows.

Sarah grinned. "Is that what you want to finish?"

"Whatever it was, we should do more of that."

Sarah nodded, and they heard knocking at the door. Sarah said, "That's strange. Casey wouldn't knock. Even if he was concerned we were doing what we almost did, knocking wouldn't be loud enough to stop us." She retrieved her gun.

Chuck and Sarah walked into the other room. Chuck went first, staying in front of Sarah to block the view of his gorgeous girlfriend from whoever it was. Sarah stayed right behind him because she had a gun, if it was someone other than the containment team. Answering the door, they didn't find Casey and a containment team. Instead, they saw Chuck's ex-girlfriend.

"Jill!" Chuck squeaked as he pulled the top of his robe more closed in an unnecessary act of modesty.

Her face was filled with disgust. "What do you think you are doing with a prostitute, Chuck?"

Chuck froze in shock at the accusation. Sarah stepped to the side so Chuck was no longer hiding her. She didn't have to say anything. She just fixed Jill with a hard stare.

"Wait, you're her. You're Sarah."

Chuck said, "I didn't hire a prostitute when I went celibate for five years after you and Bryce wrecked my life. Now that I'm living with the most beautiful woman in the world, why would I want to be with anyone else?"

Sarah went into the other room and came out with a cell phone, pointing her gun directly at the other woman. Jill put up her hands as Sarah dialed the phone.

Chuck said, "I suggest to make no sudden moves and calmly go sit over there." He pointed at a chair against the wall.

Never taking her eyes off of Jill, Sarah spoke into her phone. _"We're ok, Casey. Don't bother with the hazmat team. Chuck and I are pretty sure we weren't poisoned since we aren't feeling the affects you described. A third person is here. … Jill … Yes, Jill ___… _Apparently she saw the three of us walk through the hotel lobby and thought Chuck was cheating on me. Considering she cheated on Chuck, I'm not sure why she'd care. So what does she do? … She comes to confront him. … Bring something to contain the puzzle box so we can transport it out of here. … That duffel bag in your trunk with sweats would be nice too. … Chuck's and my clothes are wet from showering off whatever that powder was." _Sarah's mouth twisted in a smile at the next comment she heard._ "No, we didn't get that far ___… ___We need to take the box and the prisoner someplace, but we don't want to go to the office downtown since we are running a parallel investigation to the FBI. We've been told to keep them out of it because…you know. Taking Jill there would make things more official … Right. We'll be waiting."_ She hung up.

Sarah calmly pointed the gun at Jill. Jill nervously said, "I'm not a threat. You don't need that thing. I thought I was sticking up for you."

Sarah said, "Why would you care about me? You've already proven you don't care about Chuck."

Jill opened her mouth to argue, but Sarah's icy stare convinced her to not say anything.

When Casey showed up a few minutes later, he told them the FBI guards at Guy's room had been killed. Even after Sarah killed the assassin, the group behind Guy's murder and the bio-weapon release was still up to something.

After they got to Casey's car, they put a hood on Jill. He was supplied for all possibilities.

* * *

"Sarah, maybe you should take a seat over there," Casey said, pointing to the sofa, away from his dining room table. "I think Jill's scared of you."

Sarah held her serious expression and said, "Good." She showed no signs of moving.

Chuck took her hand at his side, showing his full support of her being right where they were in Casey's apartment. The four of them were standing around the table, with the puzzle box sitting in the middle.

Chuck said, "Sarah and I both noticed it tasted funny. Almost like Kool-Aid."

Jill said, "Guy's paranoia manifested in obscure ways: odd literary references, mathematical proofs. The log-in for his computer was a random piece of Vogon poetry."

Sarah said, "Sounds like he's trying to kill someone."

Everyone looked at Sarah in surprise.

Sarah said, "What? I thought maybe reading some of Chuck's books would help me understand more of the stuff I sometimes hear. I made it fifty pages into _Dune_, but the politics reminded me too much of work. _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ was shorter, so I thought it would be less of a time investment for a my first attempt at trying something like that. It was really funny in an absurd sort of way. I didn't realize there were sequels until I put the book back. I haven't read those."

Casey said, "But why would Vogon poetry mean he was trying to kill someone?"

Sarah matter-of-factly said, "That book says it's the third worst poetry in the universe. I doubt that claim because I've heard some truly awful pick-up lines over the years. THe Vogons read it to prisoners before they space them."

Everyone stared at Sarah for another moment. Hearing Sarah talk so nonchalant about spacing was not something they expected.

"What? It looks like I was right about it helping me understand nerd references. Chuck, I was going to ask you if I should read start reading the sequels or a graphic novel next."

Chuck answered with a strong kiss. Then he said, "We'll talk later." He gave her another short, hard kiss before they both turned back to the task at hand.

Jill impatiently said, "You said back at the hotel that it was fruit punch. What kind of fruit punch was it?"

"Uh. I guess it tasted like traditional fruit punch," Sarah said.

Jill let out a frustrated sigh. "You guess. What was the exact formula? Please tell me you have mass spectrometer here." She looked around the apartment with disapproval.

Casey said, "The portable machine I used at the hotel room wasn't a full chemical analyzer, but I have one here. It and a contamination wash shower came with the isolation and containment packages I had installed when I moved in."

Jill offered, "I can run the test."

Casey shut her down. "I can do it. I did run the tests without anyone's help back at the hotel room. This is the same government that makes us regularly re-qualify on every firearm we use, even though for the most part they are the same. They make sure we're trained on all the gadgets they distribute to us. Otherwise they wouldn't let us have them. You aren't handling my equipment." Chuck let out a little snort.

Casey gathered and tested the sample. The machine said "Rootin' Raspberry Hi-C."

As a group, they brainstormed what that might mean. Jill suggested a sports team, though nobody knew what team that was. Sarah suggested international waters, for "high seas." Chuck figured out that the puzzle box was also a music box, so that meant the note, "high C."

When Casey sang the note, a drawer under the spray that had released the power popped out. It held opera glasses. Casey's singing was more surprising than the fact that the box revealed opera glasses (and that Sarah new what aliens did before spacing someone.)

Casey said, "Choir boy." Everyone was still shocked. "What? I wasn't hatched."

They all were surprised again by a knock at the door. Jill had learned they were in Casey's apartment, but she didn't know where that was, and a place where people anyone could come to the door didn't seem secure. The others were just shocked someone had come to see Casey.

Casey checked at a video panel by the door that showed who it was. It was Ellie. Casey mumbled something about Bartowskis and opened the door a few inches.

"Can I help you?" Casey had tried to sound casual as he asked. It wasn't an impressive attempt for a spy trying to act casual. He never greeted Ellie that way.

"John, you might as well stop hiding what you have inside. I'm on-call, but don't have a shift today, so I was home when the three of you came here with a hooded prisoner. She was incessantly asking questions, so Chuck told _Jill_ to be quiet. I couldn't imagine why you would have anything to do with that woman, but I stayed out of it. I trust Sarah to protect Chuck. Then I heard singing. It didn't sound like torture. That's something I generally disapprove of, but for _that_ woman, I would have looked the other way. However, singing auditions couldn't be spy-stuff, so I had to find out what is going on."

Casey opened the door the rest of the way, revealing Chuck, Sarah, and Jill standing by the table near the kitchen.

Jill said, "Hello, Ellie. It's been a while."

Ellie didn't say anything back. She silently walked to Casey's kitchen and picked up a frying pan from a drying rack in the sink. She calmly started back, but before she got into striking range, Sarah interceded, keeping Ellie away.

"Sarah, I assume you know what she did. In my book, she's just as bad as Bryce, and I received an official thanks from very important people for helping apprehend him." She raised the hand holding the pan, shaking it a bit to show that she was ready to "help apprehend" someone again.

"I understand. As much as I'd like to see you take a swing, you can't do that at this time. She's helping us with an investigation. A couple days ago, Chuck filled in on a Nerd Herd job at a conference downtown. They ran into each other by coincidence."

"A conference? You mean the one that's been all over the news because one attendee was thrown out a window at his hotel and some toxin was released at a talk the next day?"

Sarah said, "The same one. I can't tell you anything more."

"The conspiracies are going wild on that one. You guys are on it. Good. Right. Ok. At work tomorrow, we're having a staff meeting to remind us how to safely respond to biological and chemical attacks. Please keep my brother safe from whatever that was and from _her_. If things change, and you need me to take a swing, I'll be happy to help."

Ellie set the frying pan down on the counter, gave Chuck and Sarah brief hugs, said goodbye to Casey. She left without another glance at Jill.

Jill broke the silence first. "Ellie knows what you do?" She looked at Casey. "And you live next door? That's where we are?"

Sarah said back, "Yes. We're a close team. That woman is my best friend. I don't have to tell her the details of what I do, but there's no need to pretend that I'm somebody I'm not."

No one said anything for the next few seconds. Chuck tried to break the tension by unscrewing the handle off the opera glasses. "I noticed this was loose. The question is, where's the opera?"

* * *

_**The day after that**_

Morgan didn't know what to do. Should he call Sarah? She wouldn't even understand how severe of a threat Jill posed. Maybe he needed to call 9-1-1. They wouldn't understand either. They'd probably think it was a crank call. It wasn't a "normal" emergency like a fire or a heart attack. Chuck was with the woman who broke his heart at Stanford, which was just as bad, but others wouldn't see it that way. Only he and Ellie completely understood.

Morgan stared at his phone for another minute with Sarah's number on the screen and his thumb above the call button. He looked up to see the beautiful Sarah Walker herself walk into the store. Initially she looked happy, showing up with a spring in her step, like always. When she looked around and didn't see Chuck, she frowned. Morgan supposed he would do his best to convey the seriousness of the issue to Sarah, and they could decide together how to save Chuck from his ex.

Sarah spotted Morgan when he started towards her. She met him halfway and before Morgan could say anything, she said, "Morgan, I can tell from your face that something happened. Where's Chuck?"

* * *

A/N: Uh oh. Ellie saw Jill. Morgan saw Chuck leave with Jill. Sarah doesn't know where her Chuck is. One chapter left to deal with this. This was the "penultimate" chapter. Isn't that a better thing to say than then final chapter before the final chapter, like they do for TV season finales. For this story, all I'll say is the Buy More remains standing after the final chapter because Sarah doesn't have to knock it down to find Chuck and Morgan's thumbs remain unbroken.


	8. Phase Push Mix Three

_Posted October 18, 2019_

A/N: I wasn't originally planning on letting Morgan in on the secret, but in the show, so many things happened at the Buy More, he had to find out something. Hmmm. The Christmas episode is after this. No. This is the last chapter. Chuck wouldn't flash on Jason Wang's license plate (Chuck vs the Best Friend) so Anna would stay with that guy and get into trouble when the Chinese Ambassador was killed. Good riddance (to Anna, I mean.) Back to this story, because Chuck is in trouble.

* * *

_Here's a few things you might know, or maybe you forgot_

"Did you put her in a dumpster behind the convention center?"

"Who? Jill?"

"Yes, Jill. Pretty much the last person I wanted to see."

"I didn't touch her. You're the one who did that. Just so you know, a dumpster isn't a good receptacle for someone ground into pieces, unless you have a plastic bag. It works better if you have a couple of bags."

—

"What do you think you're doing?

"Getting closure. She owes me an explanation."

"We need to know what Guy was planning. Look, I know it's hard, but tonight, you have to be a spy, first."

"You don't like it when I try to be a spy. I didn't want to do any of this."

—

"Sarah, you know who this is. I brought her to help. When I went in first, it didn't go so well, so it was a good thing Jill was here. You know me and needles—how I passed out when I got my flu shot a couple weeks ago. Jill came in wearing a bio-suit to synthesize the antidote. Jill, this is Sarah. My Sarah."

—

"What do you think you are doing with a prostitute, Chuck?"

"Wait, you're her. You're Sarah."

—

"Morgan, I can tell from your face that something happened. Where's Chuck?"

* * *

Morgan said, "Sarah, even though Jill's his ex-girlfriend, I can't imagine him wanting to spend time with her rather than you. Everyone who knows you knows you're awesome."

Sarah pulled out her phone and pulled up some kind of map app that Morgan hadn't seen before. Morgan asked, "What are you doing? Do you have Chuck lo-jacked or something? That's a little extreme. Does he know? At this point, who cares? You and Chuck can deal with that later. The important thing is to get Jill away from him."

Sarah ignored the rambling, looked up at Morgan, and seriously asked, "Where's Casey?"

"He was supervising a delivery out back. What does he have to do with Chuck leaving with Jill?"

Sarah saw Casey towards the back of the store and shot off to talk to him. Morgan followed saying, "I didn't even know that Jill lives around here. I don't know how she knew how to find him. I'm sure he hasn't been dating her while seeing you."

Sarah weaved through the aisles, heading back to the appliances section of the store. Casey was looking back and forth over the entire store like he was searching for something. Without slowing down, Sarah quickly said, "Morgan, I know about Jill. Chuck ran into her at a tech conference when he was covering for the Nerd Heard. I've met her."

"You've _met_ Jill?"

"A couple times."

"_Really?_"

They came up to Casey, and he said, "Walker, I don't know where Chuck is. Why is the bearded troll here?"

Sarah said, "Morgan saw Chuck leave with Jill."

Casey sounded disgusted with himself. "I was only out at the loading dock for ten minutes."

Sarah held up her phone. "Chuck still has his watch on. He didn't send an SOS, presumably because it would light it up and Jill would notice. They're ten miles away and just turned off the 101 into Sherman Oaks. I could get there faster, but if they are taking him someplace secure, I need more firepower."

"Right. Let's go."

Casey hurried out the front with Sarah right behind him and Morgan right behind her.

As Casey opened his trunk, he glanced at Morgan and said, "He's still with us?" Casey pulled out two bullet-proof vests, and he and Sarah put them on.

Morgan said, "I was worried that Jill was around. Neither Ellie nor I liked her back when Chuck dating her, but she seemed to have some sort of power over him—kind of like one of those evil sirens that always lured sailors to their death. When this happened, I didn't know how much to tell you, Sarah." Sarah took a shotgun from the trunk. Morgan's eyes went wide, but he continued, "This is different than I thought. Much more serious. How can I help?"

Sarah turned and focused on Morgan. "You can help by not coming with us. Casey and I will take care of this. Chuck would want you safe, and I can't do a good job of protecting you while rescuing him."

"What's going on? First, you were a Wienerlicious girl. For the past year, you've been working remotely from home for your old job in DC doing… I don't know what you do. Casey's in the Reserves, a really good salesman for the big ticket items, and great at managing inventory shipments. This is…something else."

Casey shut the trunk. Sarah told him, "I need a second." Casey grunted as he headed to the front seat.

Sarah put her left hand on Morgan's shoulder gathering all of his focus. "Morgan. I'm with the Secret Service." Morgan's eyes became circles. "I don't do normal witness protection. My primary assignment is to protect Chuck. I can't tell you more about it. Casey and I need to go after Chuck as soon as possible, so I can't spend time explaining this to you. The best thing you can do is say nothing, not event to Anna and the rest of the people in the Buy More. Chuck and I will explain more later, when he is safe. So you aren't around anyone and won't accidentally say something, go to my apartment and talk to Ellie. She doesn't know much, and she can't tell you most of what she does know, but it might help. She knows Jill is in town. I'll have Chuck call when he can, after I save him."

Sarah didn't wait for a response before joining Casey in the car. Casey wasted no time leaving the parking lot. In mere seconds, they were gone, leaving Morgan behind in wonderment.

* * *

Chuck sat in a small interrogation room with Jill and another man who went by "Leader." The code name didn't seem to make sense to Chuck, though. While he was an important person at the office building where they had taken him, the headquarters of the "Strength Leadership Corporation," he wasn't the _leader_ of the whole facility.

Chuck wasn't tied up, meaning they didn't consider him a threat and were trying to act like they were having a regular conversation with Chuck there by choice. The first few questions from Leader went nowhere because the normal talkative Chuck wouldn't talk to him, so Jill took over questioning, acting like a friend, not someone who had just threatened his friends at the Buy More.

"We know about Bryce Larkin," Jill said. "We know he fought several Fulcrum agents at your Buy More. Your sister indicated she was once in touch with him more recently. We need you to tell us where he is."

So much for playing nice. Chuck gravely said, "It didn't go so well for Bryce when Ellie saw him. If you care about your health, you won't mention Ellie again. You wouldn't like Ellie's notion of being 'in touch.'"

"You're different Chuck. You used to be afraid of the smallest things."

"If anyone should be afraid, you should be. Actually, I _am_ a little afraid. I'm afraid for _you_. When Sarah and Casey find me, you won't have a chance. Best let me go."

Leader said, "That's not going to happen without you telling us where Bryce Larkin is. In front of Miss Roberts, you said that you apprehended him, I assume to give him his next assignment because our records say that he is a bit of a loose cannon. Where is he now?"

"I don't know where _exactly_ where Bryce is. I'm pretty certain I can help you get in contact with him, but you'd have to go to him. Jill would have a harder time of getting there." _Because prisons aren't co-ed_, Chuck thought.

"If you are worried about breaking his cover, do you have some way to contact him so he will meet you someplace?" Jill asked.

"No, I'm not worried about that. He can't go anywhere he wants. I'd have to get permission to contact him. I haven't tried that before, but I could probably get it."

"Chuck, we need to do this without involving any of your higher-ups."

At that moment, the building shook they heard the sound of a large explosion. The overhead lights flickered. An announcement came over the intercom. "We are under attack. Everyone to your stations. This is not a drill."

Leader and Jill exchanged a serious look. Leader went over to a panel on the wall, which he opened to reveal a safe that he unlocked with a key. He pulled out two guns, handing one to Jill.

"I don't get one?" Chuck asked. Neither of his interrogators found that funny.

Jill pleaded, "You don't have much time, Chuck. Before this rescue attempt fails, you must tell us how to find Bryce. If we don't have answers by then, you will be blamed, and I don't know what they'll do to you."

They could hear gunfire on the other side of the door, from the far end of the hallway. It was already closer than any of them expected.

Chuck confidently said, "The best way to see Bryce is to put down your guns and surrender. I can't guarantee that they will let you see him, but there's a chance. Actually, the truth is, you probably won't be allowed to see him that way, either. Best run."

"That's not happening," Leader said.

The doorknob to the room was blown away with a shotgun blast that left a hole. Leader pulled Chuck up to protect himself from whatever came through the door. Jill pointed her gun at the door. The door swung up to reveal a very beautiful, very angry, woman wearing a blue bullet-proof vest and holding a shotgun. Seeing Chuck with Leader's pistol-wielding hand holding him in place as a shield and seeing Jill with another gun pointed directly at her, Sarah held the shotgun vertically in one hand in surrender before dropping it. With the rattle of the gun on the ground as distraction, Sarah quickly pulled a handgun from her back waistband. Before anyone could blink, she shot Leader between the eyes and shot Jill's gun out of her hand. Jill cried out in pain. Sarah pounced forward and threw a forward kick to Jill's face, knocking her out.

Sarah's next motion was almost as fast, meeting Chuck for a full-body hug and kiss. They separated a moment later to the sound of sirens outside. The cavalry had arrived.

Sarah talked into her watch. "Casey, I have Chuck. Are we secure?"

"We are now. I had them so focused on the front entrance, they didn't see you slip by. I should say they didn't see you race through the explosion smoke. Now with reinforcements here, the shooting has stopped and almost everyone has bugged out. The few that remained have surrendered."

Sarah pulled out her phone, "Chuck, call Morgan."

* * *

Morgan barely let Sarah's ringtone song start before he answered.

"Sarah, is Chuck alright?"

"_Morgan_," Chuck replied on Sarah's phone. "_I'm fine. Sarah rescued me. She's great, like always. She just talked to Casey. He's fine too_."

"Thank god. I saw Jill at the Buy More and was there when Casey and Sarah left to go find you. Did you know your girlfriend has a tracker on you? It was a good thing today."

"_Yeah. It's no big deal._"

"How is Sarah in the Secret Service? That's a big step up from the Wienerlicious."

"_Something happened right before I met Sarah. She came to LA to protect me. I can't tell you any more about it than that. Things changed, so she went back to her job. Since we were in love, between assignments, she came back. Her boss decided I should have some ongoing protection, and I do some computer consulting work for the government, ___part-time_. Casey serves as a liaison for the NSA. He provides protection, too. I can't tell you more about that, either. The Buy More job just keeps him busy because the events of today aren't normal."_

"Why was Jill around? I thought we'd never see her again."

"_I ran into Jill completely by accident a few days ago when I was covering for a Nerd Herd call. Jill helped investigate a situation in which her boss was killed. We didn't know until today, but she has been working with the group of people that caused problems last year. I'm just fortunate that Sarah is tougher than all of them. Where are you?_"

"I'm at your place. Sarah told me to talk to Ellie—" The phone was ripped out of Morgan's hand.

"Chuck?"

"_Hi, Ellie."_

"I'm so glad you are alright. For Morgan to be involved, I knew the Jill situation must have gotten really bad. I'd like to talk to Sarah."

_"She'd restraining Jill. Just a second. I'll put you on speakerphone."_

After Chuck did, Sarah spoke up, "_Hey, Ellie. Chuck is ok._"

Ellie asked. "Sarah, are _you_ ok?"

Sarah called back, "_Yes. I rescued Chuck. He's safe, so I'm happy. Casey's got to blow a hole through the front of the building, so he's practically giddy. All three of us are fine, and Chuck and I will be home after we call in a report."_

Ellie asked, "What's going to happen to the bitch? Do you need me to come there with a frying pan or some other piece of cookware?"

Sarah laughed. "_No. You're not needed. Jill's unconscious. I just finished tying her up. We'll let others take care of her. I didn't shoot her, but I disarmed her by shooting the gun she was holding. I think it broke a couple fingers as it was hit out of her hand. She might need some dental work from where I kicked her. She's a prisoner now, so we really shouldn't shoot her again without an exigent situation."_

"I'm thankful you found him that fast," Ellie said. "Morgan just arrived after he broke into Chuck's locker, took his keys, and drove here in a Nerd Herder, which is a lot faster than his bike would have been. Morgan said you lo-jacked Chuck."

"_Chuck has tracking in his watch for emergencies. He's aware of it. It's been used a couple times when Casey wanted to find me when I'm with Chuck, since I'm his partner, and we occasionally do missions."_

Chuck interrupted and said to Sarah, "That reminds me. My wallet, watch, and phone are in a wall safe."

Ellie had turned on the speakerphone at their end too, so Morgan spoke into the phone. "Missions? I thought you're in the Secret Service. Do you look into counterfeiting?"

Ellie spoke up before Sarah could answer, "You told Morgan you're in the Secret Service?"

Sarah explained, "_I said I work _with _the Secret Service. Officially, I do. I'm not _in _the Secret Service, though. In a way, I'm sort of on loan to them. Casey does some liaison work for the NSA for all of the stuff Chuck does. The two of us do some other things when they need people in the area, ___which I call 'missions' out of habit_. That's all I can really say. And Morgan,"_ Sarah paused to make sure she still had his attention.

"Yes."

"_Just because you know a little more than you did yesterday, doesn't mean it's any less top-secret. Ellie and Devon found out by accident about a year ago. They've been great. They haven't let a single thing slip out. Keeping it secret doesn't mean you don't trust other people. It means you are keeping your best friend safe because secrets are safer when there's less chance of it _accidentally _slipping out. When they took Chuck today, we got lucky. They didn't realize who they had, or else they might have flown him to another country. Don't try to get more out of Chuck because he'll just defer to me. Don't talk to Ellie or Devon because they aren't _allowed _to say anything. If you put them in a tough position, I won't allow you to be around my friends anymore. Don't talk to Casey because...well...he's Casey. If you have questions, talk to me. Do you understand?"_

"Yes, ma'am."

_"And please don't act any differently around me. To you, I'm your best friend's girlfriend."_

Ellie jumped in. "Are you sure, Sarah? This is your chance to get Morgan to do anything under the guise of protecting Chuck."

"_I'm sure. I like how you all make me feel like a close friend, almost family__—better than any family I've ever had. I like to think of this place as my home, where I happen to protect the man that I want to stay with forever."_ Sarah paused for a few seconds, then asked her boyfriend, "What is it, Chuck?"

There was no answer for a couple seconds. "The keys are in his pocket."

"Fine. I'll get them."

Ellie asked, "What's going on?"

Chuck explained to the people not in the room. "_The keys to the wall safe are in the pocket of the guy who was interrogating me, and he's dead."_

Away from the phone, Sarah added, "_Chuck is squeamish about touching dead people. I shot the man holding my boyfriend, so I'm the one searching the man's pockets. Ellie, we might be a little longer because Chuck won't want to step around the trail of bodies I left in the hall. We might have to wait for their removal in body bags."_

Ellie didn't know what to say to that. On one hand she was a doctor. On the other hand, anyone who was involved in threatening her brother deserved what they got.

Morgan had a question. "Chuck, how bad-ass is your girlfriend?"

"_Remember when we met her at the Buy More ___ and you compared her to Vicki Vale?_ Blows her away."_

"No way. Like Black Canary?"

"_Better than her. The only similarity with her is the blonde hair. Otherwise, there's no close comparison. Sarah's better than Batgirl, if Batgirl were better than _Batman_."_

"Whoa."

Sarah said to Chuck, "Here's the keys." Morgan and Ellie heard the sound of rattling at a distance.

Ellie said, "I can't express how happy I am that you're all ok. Devon and I keep expecting you to come home needing stitches or something. There were a couple things with that woman from your high school, but those were minor compared to what we've been worried about."

"_Thank you for caring. We always do what we can to come home unharmed. My high school was the Cougars, so all bets are off."_

There was a pause before Sarah said, _"I have to go now and attack your brother."_

Ellie and Morgan heard some sounds they couldn't identify. They called "Chuck" and "Sarah" into the phone a few times over the next half minute. With no response, they finally hung up and called back. The phone rang many times with no answer.

* * *

After the phone rang a dozen times, Sarah stopped attacking Chuck with her mouth, rolled off of him, and finally answered it. Chuck nipped at Sarah's other ear.

"Hi. Sorry about that. Actually, I'm not. I'm the opposite of that." Sarah didn't just glow, her voice glowed.

Ellie said, "_Is Chuck still ok?"_

"My fiancé better be."

"_What!?"_ two people yelled into the phone that was calling from Echo Park. They couldn't be heard without the phone, but that's because they were ten miles away. Anyone who was at home in the middle of the day at the apartment complex probably heard them.

Standing with his arms wrapped around her, Chuck worked his lips up Sarah's neck. She tilted her head to provide easier access. To the phone, she said, "Chuck had a ring in his wallet. When he got it out of the safe, he turned around and immediately got on one knee. I had to get off the call and accept. Sorry if that was rude, but you gotta have priorities."

Ellie squealed into the phone. Fortunately, they weren't allowed pets in their apartments. When she stopped several seconds later, Morgan offered an enthusiastic, but subdued by comparison, congratulations. There was no response from the rescuer and rescuee. A little while later, Sarah removed her mouth from Chuck's and said, "It's hard to do what I want to do and talk at the same time."

Morgan said, _"It's great Chuck finally pulled it off. He's been worried for weeks about updating his proposal plan and whether he could keep it a secret. Now I know why he was convinced you're really good at discovering secrets. You all were keeping a big secret."_

Sarah held Chuck's arms tighter around her as she said, "Morgan, I knew this was coming, I just didn't know when. I figured out something might happen back when you were involved with the horse-drawn carriage that blocked traffic. I wasn't too concerned, because I was planning on always being with Chuck. It was bound to happen eventually. Chuck actually did do a pretty good job at hiding the ring because I never saw it until seconds before it was on my finger."

Ellie said, _"I let him keep it in m__y jewelry box. Every day he'd take it and put it in his wallet, hoping to get inspiration. You know what this means?"_

Sarah guessed and quickly answered, "No. We are _not_ having a double wedding. I'm your maid-of-honor, and I can't do that well if I'm the other bride. You and Devon got engaged first, and Chuck and I worked hard to secure that ring when it was misplaced, so you two are getting married first. Morgan, you're going to want to be involved, aren't you?"

Morgan sheepishly said, _"Yeah."_

Sarah stopped for a few seconds to kiss Chuck properly. Reluctantly, she went back to the phone. "However you want to be involved is fine with me. I know Ellie doesn't want you up front for her wedding, so there has to be a separate ceremony. We want a different type of ceremony, too. I want a very small wedding, where I don't have to talk about my feelings in front of a bunch of people. Ellie, can you be my maid-of-honor, if you're already married? You're my best friend, and I'd love for you to be my maid-of-honor."

"_I'd love to be your 'matron-of-honor.'"_

"Perfect. You know, we probably need to let you go, because I really want to do something else. Bye."

Sarah hung up the phone and immediately got back to accepting, thanking Chuck for the ring on her finger, or whatever she wanted to call appreciating her future husband.

* * *

A/N: That's it for the sequel. On to another story.

I know I left Jill breathing, not even needing a tube. Death would be too easy. This way, her teeth are never right again, because I wouldn't expect for her to get good dental work done. Also, looking at the cannon season 2 plot line, filled with WT/WT, everything is different in this story universe. I'd think that Chuck would share the Intersect cards with Sarah. She'd go with him to Roark Industries, and Stephen wouldn't be captured. Jill would remain rotting in prison, where she'd have trouble chewing the bad food. Bryce might get a lethal injection before the Intersect 2.0 download. This is a good stopping point because Mr Bartowski and the future Mrs Bartowski are happy.


End file.
